Has the Nordic Welfare Model Been Transformed? (original) (raw)
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The Nordic welfare model is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Using Denmark we show how a universal welfare state model is gradually being transformed into an emergent multi-tiered welfare state. Whereas the Danish pension system’s having become multi-tiered in the 1990s, with private schemes – collective and individual – supplementing public schemes is well documented, scant attention has focused on more recent developments in other areas of the welfare state. This article shows how the multi-tiered welfare state spread in the 2000s to policies for families, the unemployed and the sick. Although Denmark still offers universal coverage in core welfare state areas, the increased use of occupational and fiscal welfare as well as changes in public schemes has gradually transformed the nation into a multi-tiered welfare state that is more dualistic and individualistic, with participation in the labour market becoming still more important for entitle- ment to benefits. These profound changes have taken place in such a way that although core characteristics are still in place, new structures and understandings of the welfare state are also developing. Thus classical typologies need revision, so that they include more focus on this combination of universality and institutional attachment to the labour market. Moreover, measures of what welfare comprises should include not only public but also private elements.
The Nordic Welfare State Model - the Case of Norway
This paper discusses and compares the development of Norwegian social policies within the framework of European welfare state models. The author shows the links to the social democratic model adopted by other Nordic nation-states after World War II. The paper then discusses how national social policies have been modified according to changing government policies and economic constraints. The paper concludes with significant challenges to the present welfare state model in Norway.
Challenges to the Scandinavian welfare model
European Journal of Political Economy, 2004
Policy debates with increasing frequency question whether the Scandinavian welfare model is robust to the challenges of international integration, demographic change, and changing socioeconomic conditions. The welfare model relies on a large public sector and strives for egalitarian outcomes. Beginning with an interpretation of the Scandinavian welfare model in terms of social insurance, I here consider the major challenges faced and some of the policy options. A particularly interesting question is whether the Scandinavian welfare model is more vulnerable to some challenges than other welfare models.
Danish welfare in the 1990s had a bad start, but a happy end, at least compared with the situation in Sweden and Finland (1, 2). In the early 1990s Denmark still suffered from its economic crisis of the 1980s. Unemployment was high and budget and trade deficits large. From 1994 and onwards the situation improved markedly. Trade surpluses were followed by budget surpluses. And the problem of unemployment gradu- ally made a U-turn so that lack of labour is now perhaps the most pertinent challenge on the political agenda. The favourable economic climate was partly facilitating and partly the result of fundamental changes to Danish welfare policies that underwent a silent revolution in at least four respects.
Engendering the Welfare State: How Fa(i)r are the Scandinavian Welfare States
Welfare state or state social provision is perceived as interventions by the state in civil society to alter social forces, including male dominance. A gender-neutral welfare state is not possible on the contrary gendered assumptions constitute the backbone of the welfare state regimes. Feminists have contributed to the literature immensely and categorization of welfare states from a gender-aware perspective has become a rich field that answers ‚fundamental questions such as: what type of social security system with which assumptions, priorities and with what type of society provision?‛ The paper discusses the reform agenda of the feminist welfare state utopia, ‚the real utopia‛, in which both men and women can perform as autonomous, free individuals in the public and private spheres. In this regard, the Scandinavian states are far ahead compared to the rest of the world in terms of reforms undertaken, yet the question remains: Is the Scandinavian case a blueprint for ‚the Real Utopia‛? The paper aims to answer this question primarily by presenting feminist economists concerns on welfare state regulations, the suggested reform agenda, secondly by analyzing and evaluating Scandinavian model in a historical and conceptual context.
Can Welfare States Be Sustained in a Global Economy? Lessons from Scandinavia
Can the European social model be reformed without sacrificing its gains? This article argues that it can and that the Scandinavian states have already adapted their “leading edge” welfare state models to meet demographic, social and economic challenges. It sketches the characteristics of the Scandinavian model, including its underpinnings in encompassing organizations of the less well off, the role of democratic corporatism in policy making, and the importance of empiricism, social trust and solidarity in the development of public policy.