Sustainable Nordic Welfare

The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351765633, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. In the 21st century, Norway, Denmark and Sweden remain the icons of fair societies, with high economic productivity and quality of life. But they are also an enigma in a cultural-evolutionary sense: though by no means following the same socio-economic formula, they are all cases of a "non-hubristic", socially sustainable modernity that puzzles outside observers. Using Nordic welfare states as its laboratory, Sustainable Modernity combines evolutionary and socio-cultural perspectives to illuminate the mainsprings of what the authors call the "well-being society". The main contention is that the Nordic uniqueness is not merely the outcome of one particular set of historical institutional or political arrangements, or sheer historical luck; rather, the high welfare creation inherent in the Nordic model has been predicated on a long and durable tradition of social cooperation, which has interacted with global competitive forces. Hence the socially sustainable Nordic modernity should be approached as an integrated and tightly orchestrated ecosystem based on a complex interplay of cooperative and competitive strategies within and across several domains: normative-cultural, socio-political and redistributive. The key question is: Can the Nordic countries uphold the balance of competition and cooperation and reproduce their resilience in the age of globalization, cultural collisions, the digital economy, the fragmentation of the work/life division, and often intrusive EU regulation? With contributors providing insights from the humanities, the social sciences and evolutionary science, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, sociology, history, institutional economics, Nordic studies and human evolution studies.

A Good Life in a Sustainable Nordic Region – Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development is the overriding and cross-sectoral frame-work for the work of the Nordic Council of Ministers. All work carried out within the Council of Ministers will incorporate a sustainability perspective. The Nordic Council of Ministers will help the Nordic countries successively continue to improve welfare and quality of life for present and future generations, by protecting and using the earth’s ability to sustain life in all its diversity. The strategy provides long-term guidelines as far as 2025 in the following focusareas: the Nordic welfare model, viable ecosystems, changing climate, sustainable use of the earth’s resources, and education, research and innovation. The sectoral ministerial councils within the Nordic Council of Ministers will supplement the strategy with concrete measures.

The Sustainable Nordic Welfare programme implements the Nordic prime ministers’ request to the Nordic ministers for health and social affairs to prepare tangible proposals for further development of the Nordic co-operation on health. At the Nordic prime ministers meeting on 10 June 2012, the prime ministers asked the health ministers to review, in particular, the Nordic co-operation on testing of new drugs and treatments, co-operation on highly-specialised functions, and research on health and welfare. The Sustainable Nordic Welfare programme applies for the period 2013–2015. In addition to developing and giving a tangible form to the Nordic health co-operation, the programme also involves tangible initiatives in the health and labour market areas. The two councils of ministers with main responsibility are the Council of Ministers for Education and Research (MR-U) and the Council of Ministers for Health and Social Affairs (MR-S).

In this insightful collection, academic experts consider the impact of neoliberal policies and ideology on the status of care work in Nordic countries. With new research perspectives and empirical analyses, it assesses challenges for care work including technologies, management and policy-making. Arguing that there is a care crisis even in the supposedly feminist Nordic ‘nirvana’, this book explores understandings of the care crisis, the serious consequences for gender equality and the hitherto neglected effects on the long-term sustainability of the Nordic welfare states. This astute take on the Nordic welfare model provides insights into what the Nordic experience can tell us about wider international issues in care.

Academic experts review the impact of neoliberal politics and ideology on the status of care work in Nordic countries.

The 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015, outlines an ambitious and universal plan of action for people, planet and prosperity as it seeks to strengthen universal peace and freedom. This report presents national and Nordic action on Agenda 2030 with the aim to inform and support the Nordic Council of Ministers in formulating a new Nordic Sustainable Development Programme. All Nordic countries are engaged and strongly committed to implementing Agenda 2030 and there is a broad societal interest in joint Nordic action. The existing Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development and several other key initiatives within Nordic cooperation already contribute to the goals of Agenda 2030. A new Nordic Sustainable Development Programme can build upon a strong foundation and add further value to the national and international work done by the Nordic countries.

The success of the Nordic welfare state is well known, but the key drivers of its remarkable expansion are not. This book explores the relationships between citizens that constitute the normative groundwork of Nordic societies, arguing that the quality of relations steers welfare development.

Taking a comparative perspective, this book casts new light on the changing inequalities in Europe.