During the week, representatives from the major political parties in Sweden take turns to make speeches in Almedalen.

It has inspired similar events to be held in other countries, like Suomi-Areena in Finland, Arendalsuka in Norway, Arvamusfestival in Estonia and Folkemødet at the island of Bornholm in Denmark.

[3] The first official Almedalen Week took place in 1982, when the Social Democrats started to organise economic seminars.

[6] In recent years, the event has grown larger, with hordes of journalists, lobbyists, local and national politicians, employees from local, regional and national organisations and representatives of non-governmental organizations all coming to Visby to meet, discuss politics and socialize.

As of 2015, it is the biggest and most important forum in Sweden for seminars, debates and political speeches on current social issues.

The stabbing occurred near to a stage where Centre Party leader Annie Lööf was about to give a press conference.

In 2010, the spokesperson for the Feminist Initiative, Gudrun Schyman, burned SEK 100,000 during a speech about the inequality in wages for men and women.

It was later declared that the party had been an elaborate hoax created by the National Swedish Touring Theatre to raise awareness for cultural issues.

The language and messages delivered by politicians are conformed to fit in the frames provided by TV and newspapers, making comments short, powerful and lacking in nuances.

[18] During the Almedalen Week journalists, politicians and lobbyists socialize in a way that under normal circumstances would not be considered correct.

[23] Almedalen Week visitor Dennis Kucinich commented on the event: When you see the kind of internecine conflict that happens in the United States— the partisan divide, the dichotomous thinking, the separation from each other—there is a different thing happening here in Sweden at Almedalen, which is a sense of a common bond as citizens with a common purpose for the nation.

And so, that's why—you know, having been here only for two days, I've had a chance to meet people from every level of society, decision makers as well as citizens, and there's a sense that things matter in these kind of discussions, which are direct, relatively low-key, nonconfrontational, matter-of-fact.