National Welfare and Economic Interdependence

This book explores the tension which exists in industrial Western States which are committed to the liberalization of trade, but which at the same time are increasingly expected to provide economic security not only for traditional defensive purposes, but also for the social welfare of the nation as a whole.

This tension is particularly acute in neutral countries such as Sweden, where many contradictions and inconsistencies have emerged in the government's economic policy of subsidies and trade restrictions. Dr Dohlman reassesses the relationship between national economic security and the international trading order, both in general and with regard to the particular problems that this relationship poses for neutral states. Her findings have far-reaching implications both for the future of Sweden's economic security, and for other industrialized countries in an increasingly protectionist environment.