| dc.description.abstract | In 1936, while Sweden gave birth to one of the most peaceful solutions to class
conflict (i.e. the Neo-Corporatist Welfare State) with the iconic signature of the
Saltsjöbaden Accord, Spain gave birth to the most violent results: the Spanish Civil
War. Why did the political, social and economic elites choose collaboration in
Sweden and violent confrontation in Spain? Building on recent findings by economic
historians, this paper shows the notable socio-economic similarities between the two
countries: with European-record levels of social conflict, both were also late
industrialist economies enjoying remarkable growth rates as well as decreasing levels
of economic inequalities. The paper underlines an overlooked factor: the public
bureaucracy. In the key decades of state expansion (late 19th-early 20th century), the
semi-authoritarian Sweden – where executive and administrative positions, firmly in
hands of the Crown, were unaccountable to the parliament – created and consolidated
a meritocratic autonomous bureaucracy which promoted impartiality and the rule of
law. On the contrary, the instable and, on average, more liberal Spain – where
executive and administrative positions were frequently accountable to parliamentary
dynamics – built a patronage-based administration which allowed successive political
incumbents to implement their most preferred policies above the rule of law. This
made that in 1936, facing a leftist government extensively violating property rights,
the Spanish capitalist and middle-classes, until then the least supportive of fascism in
Europe, actively supported Franco’s military rebellion, which ended up becoming one
of the longest fascist regimes in the history. | sv |
