Olof Palme

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Olof Palme
File:(Olof Palme) Felipe González ofrece una rueda de prensa junto al primer ministro de Suecia. Pool Moncloa. 28 de septiembre de 1984 (cropped).jpeg
Palme in 1984
Prime Minister of Sweden
In office
8 October 1982 – 28 February 1986
Monarch Carl XVI Gustaf
Deputy Ingvar Carlsson
Preceded by Thorbjörn Fälldin
Succeeded by Ingvar Carlsson
In office
14 October 1969 – 8 October 1976
Monarch Gustaf VI Adolf
Carl XVI Gustaf
Preceded by Tage Erlander
Succeeded by Thorbjörn Fälldin
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office
14 October 1969 – 28 February 1986
Preceded by Tage Erlander
Succeeded by Ingvar Carlsson
President of the Nordic Council
In office
1 January 1979 – 31 December 1979
Preceded by Trygve Bratteli
Succeeded by Matthías Árni Mathiesen
Minister of Education
In office
29 September 1967 – 14 October 1969
Prime Minister Tage Erlander
Preceded by Ragnar Edenman
Succeeded by Ingvar Carlsson
Minister of Communications
In office
25 November 1965 – 29 September 1967
Prime Minister Tage Erlander
Preceded by Gösta Skoglund
Succeeded by Svante Lundkvist
Personal details
Born Sven Olof Joachim Palme
(1927-01-30)30 January 1927
Stockholm, Sweden
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Stockholm, Sweden
Resting place Adolf Fredrik Church
Political party Social Democratic
Spouse(s) Jelena Rennerova (m. 1948; div. 1952)
Lisbeth Beck-Friis (m. 1956)
Children
Alma mater University of Stockholm,
Kenyon College
Signature
Website Olof Palme International Center
Military service
Allegiance Sweden Sweden
Service/branch Armén vapen bra.svg Swedish Army
Years of service 1945–1947 (active)
1947–1977 (reserve)
Rank SWE-Kapten.svg Kapten
Unit Svea Artillery Regiment

Sven Olof Joachim Palme (/ˈpɑːlmə/; Swedish: [ˈûːlɔf ˈpâlːmɛ]; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986.

A longtime protégé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, he became Prime Minister of Sweden in 1969, heading a Privy Council Government. He left office after failing to form a government after the 1976 general election, which ended 40 years of unbroken rule by the Social Democratic Party. While Leader of the Opposition, he served as special mediator of the United Nations in the Iran–Iraq War, and was President of the Nordic Council in 1979. He faced a second defeat in 1979, but he returned as Prime Minister after electoral victories in 1982 and 1985, and served until his death.

Palme was a pivotal and polarizing[1] figure domestically as well as in international politics from the 1960s onward. He was steadfast in his non-alignment policy towards the superpowers, accompanied by support for numerous liberation movements following decolonization including, most controversially, economic and vocal support for a number of Third World governments. He was the first Western head of government to visit Cuba after its revolution, giving a speech in Santiago praising contemporary Cuban revolutionaries.

Frequently a critic of Soviet and American foreign policy, he expressed his resistance to imperialist ambitions and authoritarian regimes, including those of Francisco Franco of Spain, Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, António de Oliveira Salazar of Portugal, Gustáv Husák of Czechoslovakia, and most notably John Vorster and P. W. Botha of South Africa, denouncing apartheid as a "particularly gruesome system." His 1972 condemnation of American bombings in Hanoi, comparing the bombings to a number of historical crimes including the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-glane, Babi Yar, Katyn, Lidice and Sharpeville and the extermination of Jews and other groups at Treblinka, resulted in a temporary freeze in Sweden–United States relations.

Palme's assassination on a Stockholm street on 28 February 1986 was the first murder of a national leader in Sweden since Gustav III in 1792, and had a great impact across Scandinavia.[2] Local convict and addict Christer Pettersson was originally convicted of the murder in district court but was unanimously acquitted by the Svea Court of Appeal. On 10 June 2020, Swedish prosecutors held a press conference to announce that there was "reasonable evidence" that Stig Engström had killed Palme.[3] As Engström committed suicide in 2000, the authorities announced that the investigation into Palme's death was to be closed.[3] The 2020 conclusion has faced widespread criticism from lawyers, police officers and journalists, decrying the evidence as only circumstantial, and too weak to ensure a trial had the suspect been alive.[4]

Early life

Palme was born into an upper class, conservative Lutheran family in the Östermalm district of Stockholm. The progenitor of the Palme family was skipper Palme Lydert of Ystad of either Dutch or German ancestry. His sons adopted the surname Palme. Many of the early Palmes were vicars and judges in Scania. One branch of the family, of which Olof Palme was part, and which became more affluent, relocated to Kalmar; that branch is related to several other prominent Swedish families such as the Kreugers, von Sydows and the Wallenbergs. His father, Gunnar Palme (sv) (1886–1934), was a businessman, son of Sven Theodore Palme (sv) (1854–1934) and Swedish-speaking Finnish Baroness Hanna Maria von Born-Sarvilahti (fi) (1861–1959).[5] Through her, Olof Palme claimed ancestry from King Johan III of Sweden, his father King Gustav Vasa of Sweden and King Frederick I of Denmark and Norway. His mother, Elisabeth von Knieriem (1890–1972),[6] of the Knieriem family who originated from Quedlinburg,[7] descended from Baltic German burghers and clergy and had arrived in Sweden from Russia as a refugee in 1915. Elisabeth's great-great-great grandfather Johann Melchior von Knieriem (1758–1817) had been ennobled by the Emperor Alexander I of Russia in 1814. The von Knieriem family does not count as members of any of the Baltic knighthoods. Palme's father died when he was seven years old. Despite his background, his political orientation came to be influenced by Social Democratic attitudes. His travels in the Third World, as well as the United States, where he saw deep economic inequality and racial segregation, helped to develop these views.

A sickly child, Olof Palme received his education from private tutors. Even as a child he gained knowledge of two foreign languages — German and English. He studied at Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket, one of Sweden's few residential high schools, and passed the university entrance examination with high marks at the age of 17. He was called up into the Army in January 1945 and did his compulsory military service at Svea Artillery Regiment between 1945 and 1947, becoming in 1956 a reserve officer with the rank of Captain in the Artillery. After he was discharged from military service in March 1947, he enrolled at Stockholm University.[8][unreliable source?]

On a scholarship, he studied at Kenyon College, a small liberal arts school in central Ohio from 1947 to 1948, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[9] Inspired by radical debate in the student community, he wrote a critical essay on Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. Palme wrote his senior honour thesis on the United Auto Workers union, led at the time by Walter Reuther. After graduation, he traveled throughout the country and eventually ended up in Detroit, where his hero Reuther agreed to an interview which lasted several hours. In later years, Palme regularly remarked during his many subsequent American visits, that the United States had made him a socialist, a remark that often has caused confusion. Within the context of his American experience, it was not that Palme was repelled by what he found in America, but rather that he was inspired by it.[10]

After hitchhiking through the U.S. and Mexico, he returned to Sweden to study law at Stockholm University. In 1949 he became a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. During his time at university, Palme became involved in student politics, working with the Swedish National Union of Students. In 1951, he became a member of the social democratic student association in Stockholm, although it is asserted he did not attend their political meetings at the time. The following year he was elected President of the Swedish National Union of Students. As a student politician he concentrated on international affairs and travelled across Europe.[8][unreliable source?]

Palme attributed his becoming a social democrat to three major influences:

Palme was an atheist.[11]

Political career

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Palme in 1968
Palme at Norra Bantorget, May Day 1973
Palme in Mora, 1 August 1985

In 1953, Palme was recruited by the social democratic prime minister Tage Erlander to work in his secretariat. From 1955 he was a board member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League and lectured at the Youth League College Bommersvik. He also was a member of the Worker's Educational Association.[citation needed]

In 1957 he was elected as a member of parliament (Swedish: riksdagsledamot)[12] represented Jönköping County in the directly elected Second Chamber (Andra kammaren) of the Riksdag. In the early 1960s Palme became a member of the Agency for International Assistance (NIB) and was in charge of inquiries into assistance to the developing countries and educational aid.[citation needed] In 1963, he became a member of the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, and retained his duties as a close political adviser to Prime Minister Tage Erlander. In 1965, he became Minister of Transport and Communications. One issue of special interest to him was the further development of radio and television, while ensuring their independence from commercial interests.[8] In 1967 he became Minister of Education, and the following year, he was the target of strong criticism from left-wing students protesting against the government's plans for university reform. The protests culminated with the occupation of the Student Union Building in Stockholm; Palme came there and tried to comfort the students, urging them to use democratic methods for the pursuit of their cause.[13] When party leader Tage Erlander stepped down in 1969, Palme was elected as the new leader by the Social Democratic party congress and succeeded Erlander as Prime Minister.[14]

Palme was very popular among the left, but harshly detested by liberals and conservatives.[15] This was due in part to his international activities, especially those directed against the US foreign policy, and in part to his aggressive and outspoken debating style.[16][17]

Policies and views

As leader of a new generation of Swedish Social Democrats, Palme was often described as a "revolutionary reformist" and self-identified as a progressive.[18][19] Domestically, his leftist views, especially the drive to expand labour union influence over business ownership, engendered a great deal of hostility from the organized business community.[citation needed][20]

During the tenure of Palme, several major reforms in the Swedish constitution were carried out, such as orchestrating a switch from bicameralism to unicameralism in 1971 and in 1975 replacing the 1809 Instrument of Government (at the time the oldest political constitution in the world after that of the United States) with a new one officially establishing parliamentary democracy rather than de jure monarchic autocracy, abolishing the Cabinet meetings chaired by the King and stripping the monarchy of all formal political powers.[citation needed]

His reforms on labour market included establishing a law which increased job security. In the Swedish 1973 general election, the Socialist-Communist and the Liberal-Conservative blocs got 175 places each in the Riksdag. The Palme cabinet continued to govern the country but several times they had to draw lots to decide on some issues, although most important issues were decided through concessional agreement.[21][self-published source] Tax rates also rose from being fairly low even by Western European standards to the highest levels in the Western world.[22]

Under Palme's premiership tenure, matters concerned with child care centers, social security, protection of the elderly, accident safety, and housing problems received special attention. Under Palme the public health system in Sweden became efficient, with the infant mortality rate standing at 12 per 1,000 live births.[23] An ambitious redistributive programme was carried out, with special help provided to the disabled, immigrants, the low paid, single-parent families, and the old.[24] The Swedish welfare state was significantly expanded[25][page needed] from a position already one of the most far-reaching in the world during his time in office.[26][page needed] As noted by Isabela Mares, during the first half of the Seventies "the level of benefits provided by every subsystem of the welfare state improved significantly." Various policy changes increased the basic old-age pension replacement rate from 42% of the average wage in 1969 to 57%, while a health care reform carried out in 1974 integrated all health services and increased the minimum replacement rate from 64% to 90% of earnings. In 1974, supplementary unemployment assistance was established, providing benefits to those workers ineligible for existing benefits.[26][page needed] In 1971, eligibility for invalidity pensions was extended with greater opportunities for employees over the age of 60. In 1974, universal dental insurance was introduced, and former maternity benefits were replaced by a parental allowance. In 1974, housing allowances for families with children were raised and these allowances were extended to other low-income groups.[27] Childcare centres were also expanded under Palme, and separate taxation of husband and wife introduced.[28] Access to pensions for older workers in poor health was liberalised in 1970, and a disability pension was introduced for older unemployed workers in 1972.[29]

The Palme cabinet was also active in the field of education, introducing such reforms as a system of loans and benefits for students, regional universities, and preschool for all children.[28] Under a law of 1970, in the upper secondary school system "gymnasium," “fackskola" and vocational "yrkesskola" were integrated to form one school with 3 sectors (arts and social science, technical and natural sciences, economic and commercial). In 1975, a law was passed that established free admission to universities.[27] A number of reforms were also carried out to enhance workers' rights. An employment protection Act of 1974 introduced rules regarding consultation with unions, notice periods, and grounds for dismissal, together with priority rules for dismissals and re-employment in case of redundancies.[30] That same year, work-environment improvement grants were introduced and made available to modernising firms "conditional upon the presence of union-appointed 'safety stewards' to review the introduction of new technology with regard to the health and safety of workers."[31] In 1976, an Act on co-determination at work was introduced that allowed unions to be consulted at various levels within companies before major changes were enforced that would affect employees, while management had to negotiate with labour for joint rights in all matters concerning organisation of work, hiring and firing, and key decisions affecting the workplace.[32]

Palme's last government, elected during a time when Sweden's economy was in difficult shape, sought to pursue a "third way," designed to stimulate investment, production, and employment, having ruled out classical Keynesian policies as a result of the growing burden of foreign debt, together with the big balance of payments and budget deficits. This involved "equality of sacrifice," whereby wage restraint would be accompanied by increases in welfare provision and more progressive taxation. For instance, taxes on wealth, gifts, and inheritance were increased, while tax benefits to shareholders were either reduced or eliminated. In addition, various welfare cuts carried out before Olof's return to office were rescinded. The previous system of indexing pensions and other benefits was restored, the grant-in-aid scheme for municipal child care facilities was re-established, unemployment insurance was restored in full, and the so-called "no benefit days" for those drawing sickness benefits were cancelled. Increases were also made to both food subsidies and child allowances, while the employee investment funds (which represented a radical form of profit-sharing) were introduced.[24][page needed]

In 1968, Palme was a driving force behind the release of the documentary Dom kallar oss mods ("They Call Us Misfits"). The controversial film, depicting two social outcasts, was scheduled to be released in an edited form but Palme thought the material was too socially important to be cut.[33][page needed]

An outspoken supporter of gender equality, Palme sparked interest for women's rights issues by attending a World Women's Conference in Mexico. He also made a feminist speech called "The Emancipation of Man" at a meeting of the Woman's National Democratic Club on 8 June 1970; this speech was later published in 1972.[34][35]

As a forerunner in green politics, Palme was a firm believer in nuclear power as a necessary form of energy, at least for a transitional period to curb the influence of fossil fuel.[36] His intervention in Sweden's 1980 referendum on the future of nuclear power is often pinpointed by opponents of nuclear power as saving it. As of 2011, nuclear power remains one of the most important sources of energy in Sweden, much attributed to Palme's actions.[citation needed]

Soviet–Swedish bilateral relations were tested during Palme's second span of time as prime minister in the 1980s, in particular, owing to reports of incursions by Soviet submarines into Swedish territorial waters.[37][38]

Olof Palme marching against the Vietnam War with the North Vietnamese ambassador (Nguyễn Thọ Chân) in Stockholm, 1968

On the international scene, Palme was a widely recognised political figure because of his:

All of this ensured that Palme had many opponents as well as many friends abroad.[39]

On 21 February 1968, Palme (then Minister of Education) participated in a protest in Stockholm against U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam together with the North Vietnamese ambassador to the Soviet Union, Nguyễn Thọ Chân. The protest was organized by the Swedish Committee for Vietnam and Palme and Nguyen were both invited as speakers. As a result of this, the U.S. recalled its Ambassador from Sweden and Palme was fiercely criticised by the opposition for his participation in the protest.[40]

On 23 December 1972, Palme (then Prime Minister) made a speech on Swedish national radio where he compared the ongoing U.S. bombings of Hanoi to historical atrocities, namely the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-Glane, Babi Yar, Katyn, Lidice and Sharpeville, and the extermination of Jews and other groups at Treblinka. The US government called the comparison a "gross insult" and once again decided to freeze its diplomatic relations with Sweden (this time the freeze lasted for over a year).[40]

In response to Palme's remarks in a meeting with the US ambassador to Sweden ahead of the Socialist International Meeting in Helsingør in January 1976,[41] Henry Kissinger, then United States Secretary of State, asked the US ambassador to "convey my personal appreciation to Palme for his frank presentation".[42]

Assassination

Mourners at the assassination site
Crossing of Sveavägen and Tunnelgatan avenues where Olof Palme was assassinated.

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

File:Olof Palme place of death.jpg
Commemorative plaque on the place Olof Palme was assassinated

Political violence was little-known in Sweden at the time, and Olof Palme often went about without a bodyguard. Close to midnight on 28 February 1986, he was walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbeth Palme in the central Stockholm street Sveavägen when he was shot in the back at close range. A second shot grazed Lisbeth's back. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Sabbatsberg Hospital at 00:06 CET. Lisbeth survived without serious injuries.[43]

Deputy Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson immediately assumed the duties of Prime Minister, a post he retained until 1991 (and then again in 1994–1996). He also took over the leadership of the Social Democratic Party, which he held until 1996.[44]

Two years later, Christer Pettersson (d. 2004), a murderer, small-time criminal and drug addict, was convicted of Palme's murder, but his conviction was overturned.[45] Another suspect, Victor Gunnarsson, emigrated to the United States, where he was the victim of an unrelated murder in 1993.[46] The assassination remained unsolved.[45] A third and fourth suspect popularly referred to as "The Skandia Man" and GH, after their working place at the Skandia building next to the crime scene, and police investigation number ("H" representing the eight letter, i.e. "Suspect Profile No. 8"), committed suicide in 2000 and 2008 respectively. Both fit the suspect profile vaguely, and owned firearms.[47][48][49] GH was a long-time suspect partly because he had self-described financial motives, and owned the only registered .357 Magnum in the Stockholm vicinity not tested and ruled out by authorities, which as yet has not been recovered.

On 18 March 2020, Swedish investigators met in Pretoria with members of South African intelligence agencies to discuss the case. The South Africans handed over their file from 1986 to their Swedish colleagues. Göran Björkdahl, a Swedish diplomat, had done independent research on Palme's assassination, leading to South Africa's apartheid regime. Major General Chris Thirion, who headed the military intelligence of South Africa during the final years of apartheid rule, had told Björkdahl in 2015 that he believed South Africa was behind Palme's murder. Swedish investigators announced that they would reveal new information and close the case on 10 June 2020.[50] Earlier remarks by lead investigator Krister Petersson that "there might not be a prosecution" have led commentators to believe that the suspect is dead.[51]

On 10 June 2020, Swedish prosecutors stated publicly that they knew who had killed Palme and named Stig Engström, also known as "Skandia Man", as the assassin. Engström was one of about twenty people who had claimed to witness the assassination and was later identified as a potential suspect by Swedish writers Lars Larsson and Thomas Pettersson.[52] Given that Engström had committed suicide in 2000, the authorities also announced that the investigation into Palme's death was to be closed.[53]

Some politicians and journalists in Turkey relate the assassination of Palme to PKK since he was the first in Europe to designate PKK as terrorist organisation.[54]

See also

Palme's grave in Stockholm's Adolf Fredrik cemetery

Notes

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Nordstrom, Byron (2000). Scandinavia Since 1500. University of Minnesota Press, p. 347. "The February 1986 murder of Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme near Sergelstorget in the middle of Stockholm's downtown shocked the nation and region. Political assassinations were virtually unheard-of in Scandinavia."
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Olof Ruin: Olof Palme. In: David Wilsford: Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT 1995
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Bill Mayr: Remembering Olof Palme. In: Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin Vol. 34, No. 2, Winter 2012.
  10. Hendrik Hertzberg, "Death of a Patriot", in: Idem: Politics. Observations and Arguments, 1966–2004 (New York: The Penguin Press, 2004) pp. 263–266, there 264
  11. "He was an atheist and saw war as the greatest threat to mankind. The popularity of the Swedish model society probably peaked in the early seventies, but Olof Palme tirelessly continued his development toward a society as he saw it." Jens Moe, My America: The Culture of Giving, page 155.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Olof Palme – En levande vilja: Tal och intervjuer
  14. Olof Palme
  15. Einhorn, Eric and John Logue (1989). Modern Welfare States: Politics and Policies in Social Democratic Scandinavia. Praeger Publishers, pg 60. ISBN 0-275-93188-9 "Olof Palme was perhaps the most 'presidential' Scandinavian leader in recent decades, a fact that may have made him vulnerable to political violence."
  16. "Han gödslade jorden så att Palmehatet kunde växa", Dagens Nyheter, 25 February 2006
  17. Olof Palme: the controversy lives on Archived 6 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Local, 27 February 2006
  18. Dagens Nyheter 23 January 2007
  19. "Detta borde vara vårt arv Archived 10 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine" Åsa Linderborg, Aftonbladet 28 February 2006
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. Castro Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  24. 24.0 24.1 Socialists in the Recession: The Search for Solidarity by Giles Radice and Lisanne Radice OCLC 468658478
  25. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[page needed]
  26. 26.0 26.1 Taxation, Wage Bargaining and Unemployment by Isabela Mares OCLC 783321650[page needed]
  27. 27.0 27.1 Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II Volume 4 edited by Peter Flora OCLC 1101348657[page needed]
  28. 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. Google Books
  32. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. Daniel Ekeroth: Swedish Sensations Films: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers, and Kicker Cinema, (Bazillion Points, 2011) ISBN 978-0-9796163-6-5.[page needed]
  34. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. Olof Palme till Shirley Maclaine om vikten av kärnkraft on YouTube
  37. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. 40.0 40.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. The investigation committee report (1999:88), p. 159 Archived 2 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine (PDF) Script error: No such module "In lang".
  44. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. 45.0 45.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. Dagens Nyheter, 2 February 1994.
  47. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • Bondeson, Jan. Blood on the snow: The killing of Olof Palme (Cornell University Press, 2005). OCLC 979575815
  • Derfler, Leslie. The Fall and Rise of Political Leaders: Olof Palme, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Indira Gandhi (Springer, 2011).
  • Ekengren, Ann-Marie. (2011). "How Ideas Influence Decision-Making: Olof Palme and Swedish Foreign Policy, 1965–1975." Scandinavian Journal of History 36 (2): pp. 117–134. doi:10.1080/03468755.2011.561189
  • Esaiasson, Peter, and Donald Granberg. (1996). "Attitudes towards a fallen leader: Evaluations of Olof Palme before and after the assassination." British Journal of Political Science. 26#3 pp. 429–439. doi:10.1017/s0007123400007535
  • Marklund, Carl. "From ‘False’ Neutrality to ‘True’ Socialism: Unofficial US ‘Sweden-bashing’ During the Later Palme Years, 1973–1986." Journal of Transnational American Studies 7.1 (2016): 1-18. online
  • Marklund, Carl. "American Mirrors and Swedish Self-Portraits: American Images of Sweden and Swedish Public Diplomacy in the USA from Olof Palme to Ingvar Carlsson,” in Histories of Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding in the Nordic and Baltic Countries, ed. Louis Clerc, Nikolas Glover and Paul Jordan (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 172–94.
  • Ruin, Olof. (1991). "Three Swedish Prime Ministers: Tage Erlander, Olof Palme and Ingvar Carlsson." West European Politics 14 (3): pp. 58–82. doi:10.1080/01402389108424859
  • Tawat, Mahama. "The birth of Sweden’s multicultural policy. The impact of Olof Palme and his ideas." International Journal of Cultural Policy 25.4 (2019): 471-485.
  • Vivekanandan, Bhagavathi. Global Visions of Olof Palme, Bruno Kreisky and Willy Brandt: International Peace and Security, Co-operation, and Development (Springer, 2016).
  • Walters, Peter. "The Legacy of Olof Palme: The Condition of the Swedish Model." Government and Opposition 22.1 (1987): 64-77.
  • Wilsford, David, ed. Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe: a biographical dictionary (Greenwood, 1995) pp. 352–61. OCLC 905779113
In Swedish
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Transnational offices
Preceded by President of the Nordic Council
1979
Succeeded by
Matthías Árni Mathiesen
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Communications
1965–1967
Succeeded by
Svante Lundkvist
Preceded by Minister for Education
1967–1969
Succeeded by
Ingvar Carlsson
Preceded by Prime Minister of Sweden
1969–1976
Succeeded by
Thorbjörn Fälldin
Preceded by Prime Minister of Sweden
1982–1986
Succeeded by
Ingvar Carlsson
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Social Democratic Party
1969–1986
Succeeded by
Ingvar Carlsson