Articles
This is a list of all the 'Articles' in the order they were published. Articles present the main facts on a topic clearly and accurately in around 2000 words. They may include discussion of different research trends or major points of difference within current research or opinion. Articles include a summary of the most important points contained in the article. To customise your search, use the 'category' buttons, or the search function.
2019.08.26 | Article, Agnes Arnórsdóttir, Nation building, Region-building
History of Iceland
Iceland was a largely uninhabited island in the northern Atlantic Ocean, where Norsemen settled around 870. It began as a ‘free state’ at first but became a Norwegian province in the years 1262/64. As a dependency of Norway, Iceland came under the Danish-Norwegian Crown in 1380 and became, in reality, a Danish dependency from 1660. During the…
2019.08.19 | Article, Simon Mølholm Olesen, Governance, Nation building
The Danish decolonisation of Greenland, 1945-54
An international discussion on decolonisation followed in the aftermath of the Second World War in the mid-1940s. The newly formed United Nations created some of the most important platforms for these discussions. Consequently, Danish politicians and civil servants feared that Greenland, the last of the Danish colonies, would attract negative…
2019.08.07 | Article, Anne-Marie Mai, Literature
An overview of Nordic prose fiction since 1945
Post-war Nordic prose fiction forms a diverse literary landscape, starting with existentialism and a renewal of modernism, and developing with both Nordic and international currents, including realism, postcolonialism, and autofiction. A number of authors from the period are well known both in the Nordic countries and internationally. Among the…
2019.08.06 | Article, Kenn Nakata Steffensen, Reputation, The Nordics in the World
The Nordics in the modern Japanese political imagination
In the early 1900s, Japanese progressive intellectuals, writers, and feminist activists questioned their country’s quest for power and looked to Scandinavia for an alternative modernity. The Scandinavian modern breakthrough peaked in Japan in the 1910s and 1920s on the back of a burgeoning interest in Nordic literature, philosophy and political…
2019.07.17 | Article, Byron J. Nordstrom, Labour markets, Economy
Emigration in the Nordics: an overview since 1800s
Emigration has been a part of population mobility in the Nordic region for centuries. The numbers were generally very small until the mid-nineteenth century when a wide variety of 'push factors', such as limited farming opportunities, and 'pull factors', such as the promise of cheap or free land, led to mass migration from Norden. In the…
2019.06.25 | Article, Helena Kaarina Blomberg, Pauli Kettunen, Public policy, Governance, Research
The Nordic welfare state: staying fit-for-purpose
There have been drastic changes to the political and economic climate since the inception of the Nordic welfare states in the twentieth century. Changes are required to meet the needs of today’s populations. People are less static than they once were; their roles both in and out of the job market change over time, and integration with the…
2019.06.19 | Article, William C Miller, Architecture & design
Nordic architecture: creative currents in the 21st Century
Twenty-first century Nordic architecture embraces a variety of architectural ideas and directions, presenting fresh approaches with a renewed sense of the importance of architecture as a form of cultural expression and creation. Complementing new forms of urban public space is an explosion of civic architecture; cultural, educational, and communal…
2019.06.13 | Article, Michael H. Feldballe Hansen, Cooperation, Region-building
Nordic cooperation: comparative statistics and expertise on welfare and health
Over a period of more than 70 years, the Nordic countries have worked together to produce comparative statistics on social and health issues with the goal of informing researchers, public officials, politicians and the public. The collection of statistical data using internationally recognised standards combined with expert knowledge on national…
2019.06.13 | Article, Susanna Fellman, Economy
Economic development in the Nordic countries
The Nordic countries are today among the richest countries in the world measured by GDP per capita. These countries also come top in more or less every international comparison of competitiveness. This was not the case 150 years ago. In the mid-nineteenth century the Nordic economies lagged behind those of the leading industrialised nations. The…
2019.06.03 | Article, Helle Strandgaard Jensen, Culture, Media, Research
How to raise your parents: Scandinavian children’s television in 1970s
Children’s departments in Scandinavian broadcasting corporations (in Denmark, Norway and Sweden) were clearly influenced by the call for equality and the influence of principles arising from the 1968 movement. Producers of children’s programmes worked extensively to democratise children’s television by, for example, taking children’s wishes and…