Gösta Ingvar Carlsson (born 9 November 1934) is a Swedish politician who twice served as

Prime Minister of Sweden The prime minister ( sv, statsminister ; literally translating to "Minister of State") is the head of government of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are su ...

, first from 1986 to 1991 and again from 1994 to 1996. He was leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1986 to 1996. He is best known for leading Sweden into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

. Carlsson was a member of the Riksdag from 1965 to 1996 representing the constituency of

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stoc ...

(until 1970 in the lower house). He served as Minister of Education from 1969 to 1973, as

Minister of Housing A Housing minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for Housing Policy. Country-related articles and lists * Australia: Minister for Housing ** Victoria: Minister for Housing ** Western Australia: Minister for ...

in 1973 and again from 1974 to 1976, and as Minister of Environmental affairs from 1985 to 1986. He served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1982 to 1986, and assumed office as

upon the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.

Early life

Carlsson was born in Borås,

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of ...

(then Älvsborg County), Sweden and is the third son of the warehouse worker Olof Karlsson and Ida, née Johansson. Carlsson has a diploma in business economics and a degree in political science from

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Tage Erlander, the Swedish prime minister, and his aide

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 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 ...

, later to become Erlander's successor.

Political career

After finishing studies Carlsson got a job in Erlander's staff. In 1965, Carlsson attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

as a Fulbright scholar studying economics. After returning home, he was elected member of the Swedish Parliament. In the same year, he also became leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League. He had the following ministerial posts: Minister of Education 1969-1973, Minister of Housing 1973-1976, Deputy Prime Minister 1982-1986. He was, together with

, known as one of "Erlander's boys".

Prime Minister

Following the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

in 1986, Ingvar Carlsson became the new

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

or ''Statsminister'' and party leader. Together with

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

Kjell-Olof Feldt Kjell-Olof Feldt (born 18 August 1931) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician who was minister of finance between 1983 and 1990. Previously, Feldt was assistant minister of finance from 1975 to 1976 and minister of commerce and industry ...

, the government turned a

budget deficit Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget ...

of 90 billion SEK to a surplus of a few hundred billion SEK, which initially led to large investments and record low unemployment. 1980s Social Democratic neoliberal measures—such as depressing and

deregulating Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a r ...

the currency to prop up Swedish exports during the economic restructuring transition, dropping corporate taxation and taxation on high income-earners, and switching from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies—were exacerbated by international

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

, unchecked

currency speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many ...

, and a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and m ...

government led by

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...

(1991–1994), creating the fiscal crisis of the early 1990s. But Sweden's economy began to deteriorate in the early 1990s. In 1990 the Carlsson cabinet resigned after failing to gain a majority for its economic policy agenda, but was reinstated immediately with a slightly changed agenda. The Social Democrats lost the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

in 1991, but Carlsson returned to power after the elections in 1994. When the Social Democrats returned to power in 1994, they responded to the fiscal crisis by stabilizing the currency—and by reducing the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitab ...

and privatizing public services and goods, as governments did in many countries influenced by

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

, the Chicago Schools of political and economic thought, and the neoliberal movement. As Prime Minister he also carried out a comprehensive reform of the tax system. After three years in opposition and an election victory in the 1994 elections, Carlsson formed a new government. This government realigned its focus on cleaning up Swedish Government finances, and the task was assigned to the newly appointed Minister of Finance Göran Persson. The ensuing governing period was difficult and it was strongly criticized by

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

s and party members for government service cuts and tax increases that were instituted. On 19 December 1994, Carlsson announced the decision not to recover the wreck of the MS Estonia, or even the bodies of the victims of the disaster. In August 1995, Ingvar Carlsson announced that he would resign as party leader and Swedish Prime Minister. His successor was long considered to be the then Minister of Equality and Deputy Prime Minister

Mona Sahlin Mona Ingeborg Sahlin ( born 9 March 1957) is a Swedish politician who was leader of the opposition and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2011. Sahlin was a Member of Parliament, representing Stockholm County, from 198 ...

. However, due to the so-called Toblerone Affair, she took back her candidacy and also later resigned from the government. On 5 December 1995 the nominating committee proposed the Minister for Finance, Göran Persson, as the new party leader candidate. He was elected on 15 March 1996 at the Social Democratic Party Congress as party leader and on 22 March 1996 he was elected Prime Minister.

Later life

Ingvar Carlsson was Chairman of the inquiry after the Gothenburg Riots of 2001 to investigate the events. Their report was submitted to the Government on 14 January 2003. Ingvar Carlsson was the Chairman of the Independent Inquiry into

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

actions during the 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

. He is also chairman of the Bergman Foundation Center on

Fårö Fårö () or Fåre in Gutnish is a Baltic Sea island just north of the island of Gotland, itself off mainland Sweden's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the province and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own langua ...

. With

Shridath Ramphal Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal (born 3 October 1928), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, is a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister ...

, he was in 1995 one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Global Governance, which reported on issues of

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (humanity), human development on an international scal ...

, international security,

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

and global governance. His career has been shaped by the heritage of

, with whom he worked closely, but his policies are more seen as being a continuation of the legacy established by Tage Erlander.

Personal life

He is married since 1957 to librarian Ingrid Melander (born 1934), daughter of the wholesaler Sven H Melander and Gerda, née Eriksson. They have two daughters. Ingvar Carlsson is a big supporter of football teams

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spe ...

and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Awards and decorations

Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(17 February 2017)

Honours

*Honorary doctor of philosophy,

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion *Honorary degree,

Early life

Political career

Prime Minister

Later life

Personal life

Awards and decorations

Honours

Bibliography

Notelist

References

Further reading