[Magic Number 90%]⑧ 'Lightning Legislation After Disasters' Doesn't Work in Sweden... "Deliberation Period Is Basically One Year"

Sweden, one of the advanced countries that most effectively manages contentious bills, has mechanisms to reach compromises through sufficient consultation. A representative example is the State Official Reports (SOU) system.

In Sweden, for policies that may cause social conflict, the government gathers opinions from ruling and opposition politicians, expert groups, and the public through thorough investigation and deliberation to draft legislative amendments. This process is documented in the SOU reports. From the bill drafting stage, the government, parliament, expert groups, and citizens engage in intense discussions together. Although it takes an average of about one and a half years, this procedure is recognized as essential to prevent institutional reforms and social conflicts. This approach is unfamiliar in South Korea’s political sphere, where legislation is often rushed whenever issues arise, and where the ruling party’s legislative dominance and resulting partisan conflicts have become routine.

Photo by the Swedish Parliament building. When Sweden drafts legislative amendments, it thoroughly collects opinions from expert groups, politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, and the public, conducting investigations and deliberations. This process is embodied in the State Public Inquiry (SOU) system. On average, deliberations for preparing a bill take 1.6 months. Some investigations take up to 10 years. There is no lawmaking rushed like a magic wand in response to issues. Afterwards, the process goes through another public opinion collection procedure called "Remiss." Sweden calls these procedures "the core of democracy."

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Last month, Lars Tregord, a Swedish historian and visiting professor at Uppsala University, emphasized in an interview with Asia Economy conducted in his private office in Stockholm that "SOU is the core of Swedish democracy." Currently, around 300 bills are under discussion within the SOU system.

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system, and its parliament is unicameral with a four-year term. Since eight political parties currently make up the parliament, similar to Denmark, 'coalition governance' is the foundation of politics. Therefore, the more socially divisive the issue, the longer it is discussed in the SOU to find a consensus.

Professor Tregord explained, "Contentious bills undergo preliminary investigation by special committees, and through deliberation among parliament, expert groups, and the public, a final bill is produced." He added, "Most processes take over a year, and some investigations have taken up to ten years." In his 2007 book, State and Civil Society in Northern Europe: The Swedish Model Reconsidered, he analyzed the formation process related to the SOU system.

This deliberative legislation is possible thanks to the high civic consciousness. Politics where the majority party pushes through legislation by seat count without consensus with minority parties, as seen in South Korea, is not tolerated by the Swedish public. Professor Tregord said, "It takes time, but the idea is to do it properly," and explained, "Sweden has a resistance to rushing ahead without sufficient investigation and opinion gathering."

Sensitive issues such as tax systems, education, and electoral systems take even longer. However, since participants have already reached consensus through the SOU, there is no partisan conflict in parliament. Standing committees only pass bills that have undergone deliberation.

Professor Tregord added, "In Sweden, it is rare for ruling and opposition members to shout and fight in parliament. Such intense conflicts are already resolved at the SOU special committee stage, and the fact that a bill reaches the standing committee means that ruling and opposition parties have already agreed, and its passage is a foregone conclusion."

Photo by Ras Tregord shows a thick SOU report book and explains, "Bills with contentious issues undergo preliminary investigation by a special committee to ensure that the parliament, expert groups, and the public deliberate thoroughly to produce the final bill."

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Photo by Professor Tregord explaining the SOU procedure.

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In South Korea, the entire legislative process?from bill proposal by members of the National Assembly, standing committee review, subcommittee, plenary session, legislative affairs committee, to the final plenary session?is all public. For bills where ruling and opposition parties sharply oppose each other, such as the New Year’s budget, secret meetings called 'sub-subcommittees' without legal basis sometimes occur, but most of the parties’ positions are exposed. As a result, the focus tends to be on political conflict rather than legislative validity.

However, Sweden’s SOU meetings are closed to the public. This is because if participants’ positions are exposed, free expression of opinions becomes difficult. Professor Tregord said, "When debating, listening to the other side can lead to persuasion and changing one’s position. But if a person’s stance is already exposed in the media, it is hard to change it." He added, "Because the meetings are closed, participants can debate freely without politicians feeling the need to engage in provocative behavior (such as inflammatory remarks to attract attention) due to media scrutiny."

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After the closed meetings, the bill is disclosed to related institutions (such as economic and labor sectors) and civic groups for another round of opinion gathering. This procedure is called 'Remiss.' Remiss, meaning 'circulation' in Swedish, is a mandatory opinion-gathering step in the legislative process. Here, voices from relevant agencies and civic groups are heard again, and necessary amendments are incorporated before the bill is formally submitted to parliament. Swedish legislation is only enacted after completing this entire process.

Professor Tregord said, "The Swedish system is not perfect. Swedish politicians also try to gain popularity by promoting their views through columns and other contributions," but emphasized, "However, the SOU system and Remiss process are the core foundations that ensure laws are made on a solid basis. This is democracy."

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok is protesting with members of the People Power Party on the 27th as the partial amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act, containing the 'Geomsu Wanbak' (separation of prosecution and investigation rights), was submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

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Sweden uses a party-list proportional representation system. All 349 members of parliament are proportional representatives. The distribution of seats is based on the nationwide party vote share, with 39 supplementary seats (11.17%) allocated to adjust differences. These are considered nationwide proportional seats. The remaining 310 seats are regional proportional seats. The 310 seats are allocated based on the number of voters in 29 electoral districts, with district sizes ranging from as few as 2 seats to over 30 seats, constituting medium to large electoral districts depending on population size.

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Nationwide proportional seats are allocated to parties that receive at least 4% of the vote, and regional proportional seats are assigned to parties that receive at least 12% of the vote in the respective district. The election cycle is four years, and the average voter turnout in parliamentary elections from 1990 to 2008 exceeded 84%.

As with other countries using proportional representation, it is difficult for a single party in Sweden to secure a majority of seats. Multiple ideologically similar parties form coalitions to achieve a majority, and the prime minister is selected from among these coalition parties.

The Social Democratic Party, which has held the position of the largest party continuously since the 1914 general election, currently holds 107 seats (30.6%). The Social Democrats are credited with establishing Sweden’s welfare state model during their long-term governance from 1932 to 1976. Recently, due to the refugee issue, right-wing forces have expanded, and the party lost its ruling status.

The current ruling party in Sweden is the Moderate Party, a center-right party. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is the party leader. The party holds 63 seats (18.0%). In last year’s general election, a far-right party advocating anti-immigration policies rose to become the second-largest party (73 seats, 20.9%), leading to assessments that Swedish politics have shifted rightward. Although inter-party conflicts have intensified compared to the past, the basic cultural norm of the 'Law of Jante' fosters mutual respect despite ideological differences.

The Law of Jante frequently appears when describing Swedish behavioral patterns and cultural traits. It includes ten rules such as: "Do not think you are special," "Do not think you can teach others anything," and "Do not laugh at others." This attitude is reflected in behaviors such as stepping down from the prime minister position to a successor and yielding standing committee chairmanships to junior politicians.

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