The Grim Truth About the "Swedish Model" - Hans Bergstrom - Project Syndicate

But let's not turn causality on its head. The government did not consciously design a Swedish model for confronting the pandemic based on trust in the population's ingrained sense of civic responsibility. Rather, actions were shaped by bureaucrats and then defended after the fact as a testament to Swedish virtue.

... Through it all, Sweden's government remained passive. That partly reflects a unique feature of the country's political system: a strong separation of powers between central government ministries and independent agencies. And, in "the fog of war," it was also convenient for Löfven to let Tegnell's agency take charge. Its seeming confidence in what it was doing enabled the government to offload responsibility during weeks of uncertainty. Moreover, Löfven likely wanted to demonstrate his trust in "science and facts," by not - like US President Donald Trump - challenging his experts.

... Now that COVID-19 is running rampant through nursing homes and other communities, the Swedish government has had to backpedal.

But how is it gonna play out in the long term? Final tally is still a while off. Meanwhile, focusing on better protecting those care homes could do the trick. But there may also be a darker sociological explanation for the approach:

"Their measure of success is how things are going to be in 5 years time."

Sweden has taken a different approach to #COVID19, but is it the right one?@rosamundmtaylor spoke to @seatrout to find out about Europe's biggest coronavirus gamble

Listen now: https://t.co/IQ8rqZKhrE pic.twitter.com/S92OLY8bqt

— The Bunker (@bunker_pod) April 23, 2020

_{Schengen is toast!}