Tegnell’s Vindication: How Sweden Succeeded in Flying the Flag of Freedom During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Three years on, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic linger like a haunting nightmare – no event in recent history has caused such widespread social chaos. A recent article in The Telegraph explained how Western nations were swept by “a social pandemic of fear” in early 2020 (Dingwall, 2023). Governments en masse took unprecedented leaps and introduced previously untried authoritarian measures to protect their citizens, ranging from heavy-handed police enforcement of lockdowns to the mandating of vaccines. Liberal democracy is intended to be the antithesis of authoritarianism and relies on the principles of individualism, rationalism and autonomy; yet the measures introduced by the majority of Western states represented a dangerous, condescending form of paternalism, infantilising their citizenry and deeming them untrustworthy.
Nonetheless, Sweden defied the consensus and refused to introduce overly-zealous Covid policies. As explained by its governmental post-Covid commission, Sweden’s measures were “based on a voluntary approach and (relied on) the responsibility of each individual” (Reuters, 2022). Citizens maintained their individualism, rationalist inclinations and autonomy as the success of Sweden’s Covid response (measured in mortality rate, economics, and education) reveals a damaging truth to the rest of the West: implementing severe Covid policies which restricted public freedoms was a mistake and a more liberal approach could have worked. This article aims to illuminate Sweden’s success in flying the flag of freedom during the pandemic and stresses the importance of respecting fundamental liberal democratic values, even in times of crisis.
Tegnell’s Strategy and its Reception
Sweden’s Covid strategy was architected by Anders Tegnell, a member of the Public Health Agency, who aimed to maintain freedoms whilst still protecting the country’s most vulnerable (Norberg, 2023). Policies included voluntary social distancing, bans on gatherings of over fifty people, and no lockdowns or closures of schools (Savage, 2020). This strategy was more aligned to the principles of liberalism rather than the strict measures introduced t elsewhere in the West, as there was not a dramatic trade-off between liberty and health. High levels of trust were shown to the citizenry and this was repaid, with 87% of Swedes adjusting their behaviour and social interactions falling to 30% of pre-pandemic levels according to the Civil Contingencies Agency (Savage, 2020). This highlights a clear benefit of maintaining non-authoritarian policies as it is less likely for public distrust and scepticism to emerge when the autonomy of citizens is respected.
However, Sweden’s strategy was seen as irresponsible by other Western nations as they argued Tegnell understood the brutality of the virus and exposed citizens to undue harm. For example, The New York Times referred to Sweden as “a pariah state” (Goodman, 2020) which led a Swedish professor to admit “there’s been a blow to the Swedish image of being this humanitarian superpower” (Lindberg quoted in Savage, 2020). Sweden stood alone as a voice for liberal democratic values and were shamed by the rest of the Western world as a result. Nevertheless, Sweden would disprove the critics with their successful results.
The Results
Sweden’s death-rate stood at 2,377 people per million which was lower than most other Western nations including Britain (3,427) and the USA (3,365) (Our World in Data, 2023). Moreover, the strongest evidence that vindicated Sweden’s strategy was its excess mortality rate. It had the lowest rate in the West standing at 6.8% compared to Britain’s 24.5% and the USA’s 54.1% (Blair, 2022). Johan Norberg, a Swedish political historian, has suggested this rate was so low because Sweden avoided collateral deaths that the effects of lockdowns caused – lower suicide rates, less domestic abuse related deaths and less people being unable to receive treatment due to healthcare shortages (Norberg, 2023).
Moving on to financial and educational results, the global economy was 2.9% smaller after 2021 than pre-pandemic forecasts had projected while Sweden was 0.4% larger, showing that the decision to keep the economy open had paid dividends (von Seth, 2022). Finally, the International Journal of Educational Research studied primary school reading assessments and found that Sweden’s children had suffered no learning losses during the pandemic due to schools staying open (Hallin et al., 2022). Comparatively, a study in the USA found that students made 37% less progress in reading than in usual years due to disrupted learning (Kuhfeld and Tarasawa, 2020). Therefore, avoiding authoritarian measures benefited both the economy and education levels, meaning Sweden emerged from the pandemic in a better position than its recovering Western counterparts.
Conclusion
During the pandemic Sweden’s Human Freedom Index only fell by 0.19 points out of ten, while Britain and the USA’s fell by 0.49 and 0.52 points respectively (Vazquez et al., 2022). Sweden handled Covid successfully and retained their citizens’ freedoms showing that there was a liberal, more reasoned approach which other Western democracies were ignorant to. The vindication of Tegnell’s strategy is crucial as it reinforces the fact that citizens are responsible and trustworthy and do not need a heavy authoritarian hand to push them in the ‘right’ direction. Sweden alone flew the flag of freedom during the pandemic, and despite being relentlessly lambasted, its formidable performance proves its policies were a viable alternative.
Bibliography:
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