Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Danes have a strongly egalitarian (redistributive) system of taxation. More than
75 percent of children between three and six attend free nursery schools. Lifelong educa-
tion is free. A long maternity leave is statutory. Unemployment benefits hover near 90 per-
cent of previous salary. Like other countries whose population is aging, Denmark struggles
with increasing demands on its welfare system, and Danes, like people everywhere, resist
increases in taxation.
Government transfers have shaped a society of which Danes are very proud: a society
of equals. Danes ride bicycles and drive old cars, in part, because import taxes are high but
also because a shiny, new car is regarded as an affront to a society of equals. Denmark is
also a society that strives toward government by consensus. Danish commitment to person-
al freedom has made it a pioneer in the open display of pornography. The commitment has
also opened the country to third-world immigrants. (Strollers around Copenhagen's rail-
road station may be pardoned for thinking that the shops are all run by Turks.) And those
who circle the streets around the Radhus (city hall) may also be pardoned for exclaiming
over the inviting prospect of outdoor cafes and the elegance of goods on sale.
WHY IS SWEDEN A POLITICAL PARADOX?
Things are seldom what they seem.
Skim milk masquerades as cream.
— W.S. Gilbert,
HMS Pinafore
, 1878
Lucky travelers arrive in Stockholm by ship. The city's close to 800,000 inhabitants live
on a chain of islands whose buildings seem to float on sparkling, blue water. As if to re-
mind visitors that Stockholm is a city of the north, in summertime, one or two massive
icebreakers are berthed alongside passenger ships at Stockholm's Old Town (Gamle Stan).
A few steps from the pier, passengers walk Old Town's cobbled streets and beautifully pro-
portioned squares. Across the water from pier-side is royal and imperial Stockholm, with
its majestic archways, handsome Parliament, and royal palace, as well as its architectur-
ally exuberant and beautiful Royal Dramatic Theater. And still farther across the water (ten
minutes by boat) is the island of Djurgarden, whose name celebrates Stockholm's delight
in natural beauty. (Stock is Old Norse for woods, as in stockade; holm, the word for town.)
Nature and the environment are important to the Swedes; the Green Party has a strong voice
in the Swedish Parliament.
Sweden is an anomaly. In practice and profession, it is an egalitarian society. Yet, there
are great disparities of wealth among its over 9.5 million citizens. Like Norway and Den-
mark, it is a constitutional monarchy, yet Swedes cling tenaciously to inherited titles of ar-
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