Articles

The Swedish sports movement has gained a strong political presence in recent years, notably to do with migrants’ integration. Sport has been touted as a ‘universal’ language where individuals from diverse backgrounds can take part in something meaningful together that does not require particular linguistic skills. However, even sport can be a contested space where access is not equal for everyone.

Maintaining the language and identity associated with heritage languages in the Nordic countries can be challenging: Official policies and economic opportunities, together with the cultural pressure to assimilate, can create a language shift away from heritage languages towards more dominant ones.

’Christian cultural heritage’ is widely discussed in public debates in Denmark and Norway, and often in polarising political discussions on integration. Headteachers and managers at public broadcasting services understand what is meant by Christian cultural heritage in different ways and likewise incorporate it in school curricula and TV programming differently. Some see Christian cultural heritage as fixed and self-evident, whereas others see it as a lived practice that develops and changes over time.

University collaboration takes place on multiple levels, officially and unofficially. Academics, students and numerous institutions actively play a role in cooperation between universities across the Nordic region.

The concept of friendship towns quickly emerged after the Second World War, and the Nordic countries were no exception. Since then, friendship towns in a Nordic context have included various activities from cooperation among schools, organizations, associations and even official bodies, to more contemporary activities, such as place-marketing and branding.

Dancing was prohibited in Finland in December 1939 soon after the outbreak of the Winter War. With a short exception, this ban lasted until the end of 1944 when the war between the Soviet Union and Finland came to an end - although dancing was not permitted in restaurants until 1948. The ban was not just a harmless nuisance; it was controlled by police and thousands of people were punished for breaking the law, either for organizing or taking part in secret dances - the majority of whom were girls or young women.

Most food delivery riders fall outside the scope of the ‘Danish model’, its comprehensive system of social welfare and the industrial relations model where trade unions bargain collectively for a large proportion of workers. Steps are needed to protect riders in Denmark, although the degree of insecurity and contractual terms vary. Recent domestic and EU developments and a collective bargaining agreement at Just Eat may give riders a reason for optimism.

Sweden was the first country in the world to recognise deaf people as bilingual in 1979, and the other Nordic countries eventually followed suit. But new technologies and the policy of including deaf children in mainstream education has markedly reduced the use of signed languages in some of the Nordic countries in recent years.

There are three autonomous regions in the Nordic countries: Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of Denmark, and the Åland Islands are part of Finland. Since the Nordic Council was established in 1952 and the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1971, these regions have found ways of having their say in the formal arena of Nordic cooperation - but some argue their voices are still not sufficiently heard.

One of the most influential figures in Finnish politics during the post-war period, Karl-August Fagerholm was a social democrat who served as a Prime Minister for three terms and speaker of parliament for five terms. He was a member of parliament for 36 years in total and was a keen supporter of Nordic cooperation.