The Scandinavian countries developed social welfare states in the early- to mid-20th century. This came about partially because of the domination of social democrats in Sweden and Denmark, and the Labour Party in Norway. Scandinavian societies are certainly admirable in many respects. Their high scores for human development are built around principles of individual autonomy and self-determination. However, the truth is that there is no one model of prosperity. In the future, there will have to be multiple models of prosperity based on individual circumstances, and the specifics of culture, history, economics and politics; it won’t be a case of everybody following one model, but of everybody flourishing within their own context. (Editorial page, “Towards a new world order,” Feb.14).
K.M.K. Murthy,
Secunderabad
