Aarhus University

This presentation is from a transdisciplinary research workshop entitled Nordic Noir, Geopolitics and the North held at Aarhus University in October 2018.

Social democratic parties have had a significant influence on the Nordic countries during the twentieth century, especially in Sweden. As centre-left parties closely associated with the trade union movement, social democratic policy aims have included full employment and the promotion of social justice and equality. The political influence of social democracy waned from the 1990s, but social democratic parties in the respective Nordic countries remain significant as they seek to adapt to new political and social challenges.

The Nordic region, or Norden, may be defined as consisting of the five sovereign states Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, plus the three autonomous territories connected to these states: the Faroe Islands and Greenland (Denmark) and Åland (Finland). These states are widely considered to form a distinctive region by virtue of their strong historical ties and the tradition of inter-governmental co-operation across national boundaries.

Since the 1960s the Nordic countries have been renowned for their high level of gender equality as they have amongst the world’s highest employment and education rates for women. At the same time the Nordic countries also have greater horizontal segregation by sex than the rest of the EU, that is, most women work in different occupations than most men. The gender segregation of labour is often seen as the main reason behind the gender wage gap in the Nordic region. It can also cause talent to go undetected and higher unemployment rates.

The Nordic experience is characterised by an upward spiral of development resulting from a close interconnection between a strong civil society and a strong state. The term ‘civil society’ was initially used in the Nordic countries as an alien concept to denote antagonism to the dominance of the welfare state. From the late 1990s, civil society came to be understood along more positive lines as a sphere of human engagement and self-empowerment. It has a strong association with the notion of democracy and refers to various social phenomena that have been prevalent in the Nordic countries since the nineteenth century, including popular movements and voluntary organisations.

Corporatism is about the influence of organisations and interest groups on policy making. The Nordic countries are societies with strong interest groups, acknowledged and privileged by the state, that wield considerable influence on policy making and implementation. Corporatism, or neo-corporatism, is found within industrial relations, but is also relevant in areas like agriculture, traffic, environment, and many others. In the Nordic countries, a number of alternative terms (e.g. ‘negotiating economy’, ‘mixed economy’, or ‘mixed administration’) have frequently been used to describe the same phenomena.

Immigration has been described as one of the policy areas where Denmark, Norway and Sweden have differed most since 1995. In 2018, Denmark was amongst the most restrictive countries in Western Europe, Sweden the most liberal and Norway somewhere in-between. These differences can be explained, at least to some extent, by divergent approaches to national identity and party political dynamics in each country. Increasing politisation of immigration and integration has occurred in all three countries, but has been more marked in Denmark.

In Denmark, according to a law passed in December 2018, parents who live in certain designated areas (dubbed 'ghettos') have to send their children from the age of one to nursery. The initiative is part of an effort to increase integration and illustrates several important aspects of a Nordic, state-run nursery system and Nordic society generally. Different cultural perceptions of how young children should be raised play a role, which are influenced in the Nordics by the dual-income family model, as does how individuals interact with the state.