Nordic model

1
Nordic model?

• Conclusion of the course Regions, nations and
  dynamism of cooperation economic and societal
  perspectives into the Nordic model
• Johanna Rainio-Niemi, M.Soc.Sc.
• University of Helsinki

2
Economic perspectives into the Nordic model

• Nordic paths of economic development from 19th to
  21st century
• Economic cooperation on macro and firm levels
• Current interest in Nordic pattern combining
  competitiveness and principles of sustainable
  development (cf. The World Economic Forum
  Ranking September 2006)

3
Economic perspectives into the Nordic model

• SM(all) O(pen) E(conomy) thesis Nordic
  aspects
• Active and legitimate state agency on fields of
  economic and social policies
• Macroeconomic coordination
• Coordinated social and labour market policies ?
  centralised labour market and industrial
  organisations as intermediaries
• Nordic SMOEs as globalisation winners
• No history of institutionalised economic
  integration on the Nordic level (divergent EU/EMU
  strategies alike)
• Today efficiency and flexibility combined with
  high overall policy coordination capacity,
  lessons from the 1990s recessions

4
NORDIC MODEL AND ASPECTS OF SMALL STATENESS

• Traditional realist perspective small state
  weak state
• Small state realism small state smart
  state
• Institutional aspects in small state realism
  focus on capacity and governance
• Smallness coordination
• fuzzy boundaries between policy fields
• close interaconnectedness between international
  and domestic spheres of policies
• Nordic small stateness and its implications for
  Nordicness emphasis on cooperation between
  sovereign states / governments

5
Comprehensiveness of the Nordic model

• Role of state (active, legitimate, centralised,
  embedded, inteventionist, coordinating) and
  developed institutional infrastructure
• Ability to adapt!
• Blurred boundaries between state and civic
  society (economy citizens)
• High level of organisation --gt not at all in
  opposition to state but mutually supportive
• Active and participating citizens at the
  grass-root level
• Identity political aspects ingridients in
  collective Nordic identity

6
Factors behind successful regional community
building

• Ingredients for successful sub-regional
  concertation of interests and identities (cf.
  Drulák 2000)
• Common history
• Geopolitical factors
• Likening collective and cultural identity
  structures,
• Likening societal and domestic political setting
• No gross socio- economic divergence between the
  participating countries

7
Refelctions on the Nordic case

• Historical roots of democracy no feudalism but
  independent and relatively active peasantry,
  self-governance on local level
• Legacies of Lutheran reformation (cf. State
  church relation)
• Later predominance of universal Social
  Democractic ideals and emerge of (national)
  welfare states
• Some transnational missionary aspects as well
  (third way, active international roles)
• Specifities of Nordic cooperation no huge
  successes, no failures either (cf. Haggréns
  lecture)
• In the cold war era the idea of Nordic balance on
  the level of geopolitics

8
Norden in comparative perspective Nordic
versus Central Europe

• Lack of any coherent viewpoints on specific
  Central European model
• Disputed if not ideologically charged concept,
  transcended by problematic history and memories
• Common history within the Habsburg empire and/or
  in the sphere of German influence ? German
  predominance, the most extreme version the Third
  Reich era
• Also the cold war era legacies that divide the
  potentially central European territories
  (citation from Tony Judt 1996)
• Today relatively unsuccesful attempts at the
  sub-regional cooperation, common identity or
  interest community building

9
Further reflections of the Nordic model

• Value political / normative aspects the Nordic
  peoples have perceived themselves as having no
  responsibility for Europes exploitation of the
  rest of the world and have spent a good part of
  their international efforts trying to make up for
  the wrongdoings of their fellow Europeans towards
  the Third and the Fourth Worlds Ostergård 2006
  288 (normative and value political aspects)
• Institutional aspects Model power circulation
  of best practices among the systems of governance

10
Domestic aspects Nordic model of democracy in
light of recent research projects

• Centralisation of power to key institutions and
  organisations, detachment from the members and
  the citizens
• Decreasing level of participation,
• Need for re-engagement and revitalisation of
  democracy
• The comprehensive reserach projects since 1990s
  (Denmark, Sweden, Norway)
• collective towards more individual and
  parliamentary conceptions of democracy
• ideas of democracy planning (very Nordic!)
  formulation of democracy policies
• de-centralisation of decision-making to the
  closest possible level of governance and, on the
  other hand beyond the nation state level

11
Challenges to Nordic model?

• Nordic model and cooperation strongly framed
  (conditioned?) by idea of sovereign nation state
• Nation state bias also domestically welfare
  state is nationalistic (Myrdal 1957)
• Idea of good society on a nation state basis
• Challenges on domestic arenas
• immigration issue, rise of Kulturkampf aspects,
  cf. Denmark, for instance
• Questions of (eroding?) collective solidarity in
  previous high performing systems (increase of
  taxes / cut of benefits, cf. Pekkarinens
  lecture)
• In 3-5 years no fundamental shifts expected (e.g.
  Saari 2006)

12
Europeanisation and Nordic model

• Globalisation winners so faralso in historical
  perspective
• How does Nordic models adapt to European Union?
• The first genuinely multi-perspective polity of
  the modern era(Ruggie 19372)
• The competence of the sovereign states is
  distributed to institutions both beyond and below
  the nation state ? sub-, supra and trans-national
  fragmentation of identities and interest
  definitions (Marks 1997 37-38) ? relocation of
  authority and erosion of sovereign capacity to
  govern domestically
• How compatible are the Nordic features with the
  harmonization pressures stemming from the
  European level?

13
European future polity?

• Europes future polity.will be composed of
  traditional domestic relations within countries,
  traditional international relations between
  countries, less traditional transnational
  relations between both individuals and
  organisations across boundaries, and entirely
  non-traditional supranational relations between
  European-level public institutions on the one
  hand and, on the other, a European civil society
  consisting of domestic, international and
  trans-national forces and relations and including
  both nation-states and, in manifold national and
  cross-national combinations, their constituents.
  (Streeck Schmitter 1991 159)