Countering COVID-19 in Norway and Sweden: Analysis of Approaches and Consequence

Abstract

The article analyzes the strategies of the Swedish and Norwegian governments in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These neighboring countries have shown two different approaches to solving this problem. Sweden has emphasized more lenient and voluntary measures for citizens, while Norway has imposed severe restrictions on citizens on its territory. After two waves of the pandemic, both States recognized that they could have applied more successful strategies. The consequences of the political and social nature, the reaction of citizens to the measures taken, became important. In both countries, there was a fairly high level of trust in the government. But in Sweden, unlike in Norway, there was a lot of support for the party in power at the beginning of the pandemic, as people were not burdened with serious restrictions, but experienced great difficulties as the scale of the pandemic grew. Norway, on the other hand, faced both the psychological strain of the quarantine and the crisis of the legitimacy of the measures taken. However, the situation changed in both countries with the beginning of the second wave of the pandemic, when the public mood changed.

Keywords

• norway
• sweden
• сoronavirus
• covid-19
• political parties
• government
• legislation
• socio-political consequences
• antiviral strategy