Gunnar Heckscher Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Gunnar Heckscher (1909–1987) was a major right-wing political scientist in Sweden during the period between World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). The son of economic historian Eli Heckscher, he was born in Danderyd in Stockholm County. He studied at Uppsala University and received his PhD in 1934 with his thesis, “Konung and Minister of State in the Constitutional Act of 1809.” Later, as an associate professor of political science, he wrote a thesis on the development of Swedish conservatism and the representative system’s reform. During the 1940s and 1950s, Heckscher authored many groundbreaking works, including State and Organizations (1947), Swedish Government at Work (1952), and Study of Comparative Government (1957).

Heckscher became an associate professor at Stockholm University in 1941 and a full professor in 1948. He also served on the boards of several government commissions and, from 1945 to 1954, was a rector at the Social Institute. He was considered a moderate conservative and was chair of the rightwing youth organization of the Moderate Party. He was elected to the second chamber of the Swedish Riksdag in 1957 and became vice chair of the National Federation of the Right.

In 1961, Heckscher took over the presidency of the Moderate Party after Jarl Halmarsson’s resignation. Heckscher encountered much opposition within his own party because of his moderate position on social issues. His main achievements were the admission of Ireland to the European Union and rallying the Conservatives after their defeat in the 1964 elections. He resigned as party leader in 1965. The Social Democrats had regained power in 1964 and the non-Socialist alliance was in total disarray.

Heckscher occupies a unique niche in the Scandinavian political spectrum. He was a Jew and an atheist in a primarily Lutheran nation and a Conservative in a largely Social Democratic political system. Even among Conservatives, he was a genuine moderate who followed his intellectual instincts. As an academician active in electoral and legislative politics, he represented a generation of moderate conservative leaders of the post–World War II generation such as West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Italian prime minister Alcide De Gasperi, and French president Charles De Gaulle.

Heckscher was also an astute student of politics and government. His Swedish Government at Work (1952) introduced interviews to the study of government, and State and Organizations (1947) presented the role of associations in the political process. His most notable work was The Welfare State and Beyond (1984), a conservative critique and analysis of the Scandinavian welfare state, which functioned as a middle system between capitalism and socialism. The failure of this Scandinavian experiment raised serious questions regarding the viability of political institutions that attempt to change social behavior. Since the publication of Heckscher’s book, the welfare state has been discredited in almost all countries and it has ceased to be a viable political option. Heckscher’s other books include The Swedish Constitution (1959), The Role of Small Nations (1966), The Budget as an Instrument of Administrative Efficiency (1971), and Asian Power Game (1977).

Bibliography:

Heckscher, Gunnar. The Budget as an Instrument of Administrative Efficiency. New Delhi: Indian Institute of Public Administration, 1971.
The Welfare State and Beyond. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984.
The Role of Small Nations. London: Athlone, 1966.
The Swedish Constitution. Stockholm:The Swedish Institute, 1959.
Study of Comparative Government. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1957.
Swedish Government at Work. Stockholm: Studieforbundet Naringsliv och samhalle, 1952.
State and Organizations. Stockholm: Kooperativa forbundets bokforlag, 1947.

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