Nordic Model Research Articles

Employer support for return-to-work after a prolonged sick-leave: evidence for Europe

Abstract Aim Employers play an important role in facilitating the return-to-work (RTW) of employees after a prolonged sick leave. However, the extent of employer involvement in RTW efforts is largely unexplored in an international comparative context. This study provides evidence on the diffusion of procedures to facilitate RTW after sick leave in workplaces across European countries and welfare regimes. Subject and methods Workplace practices are examined using microdata from the three waves of the European Survey on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER), collected in 2009, 2014 and 2019. The analysis is carried out using logistic models, accounting for economic structure and establishment size. Results Using the Continental countries as reference, the odds ratio for RTW support corresponds to 3.6 (95% CI 2.77–4.79) in Liberal welfare states and to 3.1 (95% CI 2.45–3.88) in Nordic welfare states. In Southern and Eastern Europe, the odds ratios are 0.3 (95% CI 0.25–0.36) and 0.2 (95% CI 0.16–0.26), respectively. Countries with high levels of RTW support display different combinations of legal obligations and/or incentives for employers to support RTW. While support increases consistently with firm size, no clear association across industries could be found. The observed patterns are stable over time. Conclusion Employer support for RTW varies greatly among countries and welfare state regimes, indicating that institutional settings and policies are key determinants of employer participation in RTW, particularly in smaller workplaces. The findings clearly indicate that there is substantial scope for policy learning and for expanding the support for sick-listed workers in Europe.

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STANDARTS DEVELOPMENT: INSTITUTIONAL AND INNOVATION DESIGN FRAMEWORK

The research aims to explore innovative approaches in the public management of social standards development, focusing on the integration of data-driven systems, inclusive governance and sustainable financing to promote fairness, equality and social well-being across diverse global contexts. This study examines the development of social standards as a core element of public management, emphasizing the importance of balancing political negotiation, evidence-based policymaking, and resource management. It highlights how public managers must engage with diverse stakeholders, navigate complex governance structures, and adapt to evolving societal needs to ensure social standards promote fairness, equality, and social well-being. Drawing on global examples such as the Nordic welfare model, Germany’s social insurance system, and innovative programs like Brazil's Bolsa Família, the paper demonstrates the potential of inclusive governance and sustainable financing to enhance social standards. It also proposes the development of an integrated, data-driven social welfare system and a Unive rsal Basic Social Service (UBSS) framework as innovative approaches to make social standards more responsive and adaptable. By leveraging advanced technologies and fostering cross-sector collaboration, these solutions have the potential to transform how governments address current and future challenges, ensuring social standards remain effective in a rapidly changing world.

Mobilizing and countering ‘the bad story’: the role of media narratives about traumatized veterans in Danish militarization processes

ABSTRACT This article investigates how Danish news media and popular culture represent war veterans and how the dominant form of representation can be linked to a general process of militarization in a Danish context. Focusing on the narratives and representations of Danish veterans allow for a study of how the veteran emerges as culturally significant figure in a Nordic welfare state without a well-established tradition for international military engagement. By reading across a set of newspaper articles and two popular TV series, Ride upon the storm and Warrior, a dominant pathologizing discourse focusing on the veteran-victim is identified and discussed.

"And that main artery's name is life": Ecosocial injury and resurgent care in Deanuleahki, Sápmi.

Based on 28 months of ethnographic research in Deanuleahki-a river valley in Sápmi, the transborder Indigenous Sámi homeland-this article traces my interlocutors' striving to reclaim and repair ecological and kin relations through the everyday praxis of care. I trace this striving through the unmaking and remaking of local relations of care amidst encroachment by post-Second World War Nordic welfare states and regimes of environmental stewardship. I propose a dual conceptualization of ecosocial injury and resurgent care to account for, on the one hand, care's alienation from its social and ecological contexts; and, on the other, the intimate everyday labor of revivifying relations of kinship and belonging, and conditions of material livability, within local ecologies. This defiant and desirous politics of care carves out an opening to attend ethnographically and theoretically to both dislocation and repair in spaces of Indigenous resurgence. In conceptualizing such a politics of care, the article brings into conversation key literatures in medical anthropology and in the interdisciplinary scholarship on care and Indigenous resurgence.

“Maybe We Can't Actually Have it All?” Egg Freezing, Solo Motherhood by Donor Conception and Intimate Desires and Normativity in a Late Modern Nordic Welfare State

ABSTRACT In this article I discuss the accounts of middle-class women in their 30s living in Norway, who face choices between egg freezing or solo motherhood by donor conception. I show that the women sought Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) as a way of actively managing their intimate and reproductive biography, at a time when their window of fertility was perceived to be closing, and they struggled to establish and maintain a satisfactory heterosexual relationship which could also serve as basis for a nuclear family (“the family package”). Both the ARTs in question, although potentially producing quite different outcomes, could be and were employed to avoid suboptimal relationships solely or mainly for the sake of reproduction. I argue that the women’s engagement with ARTs reveals an inherent tension between late modern heterosexual coupling and the nuclear family as the ideal reproductive formation. “The family package” that the women desired appears to be more a compilation of two different–and somewhat conflicting–functions: individual self-realisation through romance, and reproduction through heterosexual coupledom. Moreover, I suggest that interest in and use of these ARTs both make visible, and contribute to, an emergent symbolic and social dismantling of the nuclear family as a reproductive norm.

SOCIAL INSURANCE AGAINST ACCIDENTS AND OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES: MODELS AND THEIR ANALYSIS

Purpose. Analysis of existing models of social insurance in different countries of the world and identification of the best features of each of them, which can be used to improve the existing Ukrainian social insurance system. Method. The method of analysis of scientific and technical literature, international regulatory documents, regulatory documents of different countries of the world (Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Great Britain, USA, Japan, etc.) in the field of social insurance against accidents and occupational diseases was applied. Results. Based on the results of the research, three main models of social insurance were analyzed: conservative, liberal and social democratic. The main advantage of the conservative system is its progressiveness and the mandatory nature of social insurance, which guarantees every officially employed worker payment of insurance compensation in the event of an accident or occupational disease. The disadvantage of the system is the complexity of declaring and calculating insurance premium rates, as well as the significant burden on enterprises whose technological processes provide for the objective presence of a large number of workplaces with hazardous and harmful working conditions in comparison with enterprises where the number of such workplaces is smaller. A positive feature of the liberal system is the ease of declaring and calculating insurance premium rates, as well as the ability to choose insurance companies. The disadvantage of the system is the lack of incentives for the employer to improve working conditions at the enterprise. A positive feature of the Scandinavian social insurance model is the possibility of establishing differentiated insurance premium rates for the employer. The disadvantage of the Scandinavian model is the voluntary nature of insurance premiums and the significant tax burden on employees and employers. Originality. The main advantages and disadvantages of existing models of social insurance systems in countries around the world have been identified, which makes it possible to develop ways and directions for improving systems. Practical value. The results of this study will be used to develop ways and directions for improving social insurance systems, in particular the Ukrainian social insurance system. Key words: occupational safety and health, social insurance, accident, occupational disease, occupational risk.

Police functions: international experience of establishing interaction with citizens and ways of its adaptation in Ukraine

It is indicated that the experience of democratic European countries over the last decade has shown that a key factor in increasing the effectiveness of the police in ensuring security is close interaction with the population, based on a high level of trust. The article examines the international experience of establishing police interaction with citizens and the prospects for its adaptation in Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the study of the Scandinavian model of ensuring public safety during mass events, which is based on the principles of preventive actions, constant communication with participants, effective risk management and a differentiated approach. The analysis shows that the implementation of the Scandinavian model in Ukraine is a complex process that requires an integrated approach. This includes a clear legislative regulation of the status of the “dialogue police”, raising the requirements for personal and professional qualities of the National Police’s leadership team, and improving the staffing system. In addition, the issue of reforming the institution of police service is considered, which is currently characterized by the lack of a clear conceptual vision and the preference for local changes over systemic approaches. To solve this problem, a comprehensive approach is needed, which includes the definition of efficiency criteria, revision of personnel policy, improvement of material and social security, improvement of management and establishment of closer relations between the police and the public. The experience of Eastern European countries shows the prospects for the development of a local model of law enforcement, which allows balancing local autonomy in security matters and integration into the national system. At the same time, there are significant differences in the interaction of local law enforcement with state authorities in different countries. In general, the article emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to reforming the police system in Ukraine, taking into account the best European experience. The key is a combination of centralized and decentralized approaches, improvement of personnel policy and establishment of close interaction between the police and the public.

(Re)configurations of public education: marketisation, teacher professionalism, and individual rights of students and educators in Norway and Sweden

ABSTRACT This article studies the (re)configurations of ‘public education’ in Norway and Sweden by empirically unpacking connections between marketisation, teacher professionalism and schools’ mandate to secure the individual rights of students and teachers. These countries share considerable common cultural and political history; however, they display varying trajectories and configurations in both educational policy and practice. This makes these cases particularly useful for comparing how ‘publicness’ and ‘public education’ are (re)configured in the two Nordic welfare states. This comparative exploration is framed by four dimensions of public schooling regarding national policy set-ups expressed through control, access, funding, and teaching. The data includes official policy documents, such as legislation and government reports. We unpack and discuss commonalities and differences by relating them to multiple issues of (re)configured ‘publicness’ and its implications. Moreover, we argue that the differences in the degrees to which inflows have shaped the Norwegian and Swedish education systems (despite their similarities) offer valuable opportunities for exploring (re)configurations of the notion of publicness.

Confronting the idealised ‘Nordic model’ in education with contemporary realities of special education in Sweden

ABSTRACT For decades, the Nordic countries have been admired for their inclusive education systems within egalitarian societies, bolstered by PISA studies and global calls to ensure inclusive education as a human right. This paper contrasts idealised perspectives on Nordic education with internal experiences, exploring recent challenges to the relationship between special and inclusive education. Using Sweden as a case study, it highlights internal diversity within the Nordic region, showing differing paths and gaps between research, policy and school realities. The risks of idealising past educational models are discussed, noting that Sweden, once known for its egalitarian education and low special education needs classification rates, now faces higher classification rates and more separate provision due to policy changes. Recent trends have shown a shift towards increased diagnosis and classification, influenced by marketisation and decentralisation policies. The paper focuses on neurodivergence, analysing shifts in government priorities, teacher education, school practices and research agendas. Analysis of recent policies, reports and educational data reveals winners and losers in school participation, providing insights into the implications for educational discourse, the future of the ‘Nordic model’, and Swedish education in a global context.

The new Norwegian Education Act as arrangements for inclusive education practices for students with SEN: the vanishing concept of the Nordic model?

ABSTRACT Despite commitment to the values of one school for all in Norway, there has been an increasing number of segregated units for students with special educational needs (SEN) over the years, highlighting a discrepancy between legislative intentions and the practical implementation of inclusive education. Barriers to inclusion can emerge in any setting, especially when there is a lack of a shared understanding of inclusion and inclusive education within legislative frameworks. This study investigates how the new Norwegian Education Act (EA) could constrain and facilitate inclusive education practices for students with SEN by analysing the EA and its preparatory documents through the lens of Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA). The findings indicate that the EA promotes a discourse consistent with a broad definition of inclusion. The enhanced focus on students’ democratic rights to be involved in decision-making aligns with the values of the Nordic model of education. However, the broad definition of inclusion, the ambiguous concept of students with SEN, the reduced emphasis on SEN in legislation and the endorsement of alternative educational settings in preparatory work could exacerbate the segregation of students with SEN, thus undermining the fundamental values of the Nordic educational model.

Epilogue: towards a more comprehensive understanding of inclusive and special education

ABSTRACT This epilogue to the special issue entitled ‘The Nordic experience of inclusive and special education’ reflects on the eight articles included in the special issue. The analysis is centred around two specific questions 1) can distinctive Nordic conceptualisationHs of inclusive and special education be identified? 2) what insights can be gained from this special issue for research and practice in the field of inclusive and special education beyond the Nordic community? The findings indicate a degree of consistency across the Nordic countries, yet also highlight significant variations at the national, regional, and local levels, which contrasts with the perception of a distinctive Nordic model of inclusive and special education. The greatest commonality is that all Nordic countries (like other European countries) are striving to advance inclusive education and still have a lengthy journey ahead of them in reducing educational inequalities. However, the definition of special educational needs, the implementation of inclusive and special education, and the professionalisation of teachers, could not be characterised by a universal, uniform Nordic approach.

Big bang in the middle of a storm: Lessons from implementing health system reform in Finland

Abstract Introduction Finland is often defined as a Nordic welfare state, characterised by universal access to healthcare and an emphasis on national and local politics in the governance of the system. In 2023, the Finnish health system was reformed by centralising organisation (purchasing and service delivery) to regional entities, as well as funding and overall governance to the state from 200 local organisations. The aims of the reform were to improve accessibility, decrease inequities, promote population health and curb growing costs. In the Finnish health system, as in other fields of society, we “find a huge number of very small changes, and a very small number of huge changes” (Cairney 2016). This makes the Finnish health system reform a rare opportunity to use a large-scale reform as a context for a study on reform implementation. Methods This research is based on document analysis and interview data collected from top regional managers. The data was analysed using a political determinants of health framework and thematic analysis. Findings The Finnish reforms were introduced by a left-centre government but implemented by a right-wing government with strong opposition to the reforms, which made full implementation challenging. The results highlight the importance of political commitment to implementation, demonstrate that reforms shape power relations at all levels of the health system and highlight how health system reforms are essentially about redistributions of power between different actors. The results also highlight the importance of contextual factors and suggest that large-scale reform should be treated as a system shock for which health systems need to prepare. Conclusions Understanding the political determinants of health and political commitment to reform is essential to implementation, as is the importance of resilience and preparedness to unexpected circumstances either due to reform-related factors or to external and contextual factors.

Shifting the gaze on welfare-state sustainability in Norway: a proposal for a relational global view

Norway is an excellent case for studying the ambiguities and competing interests attached to climate change and global sustainability. The country is at the forefront in the use of “clean energy,” yet has long been one of the world’s largest oil exporters and its dominant ideas have been challenged given the climate-change crisis. The article offers a preliminary review of the historical and current connections that exist between the development of national welfare states in Europe (and Norway in particular) and the long-standing practice of extractivist efforts that have harmed nature in indigenous lands within Norwegian borders and colonized, or previously colonized lands, outside Europe). As a comparative exercise, this article mobilizes the idea of social imaginaries to conceptualize and explore how the Norwegian welfare state has, in the social policy literature and in public discourse, been linked to the notion of sustainability, given the context of rapid climate change. By drawing on three illustrative cases, the article demonstrates how such imaginaries are present in current discussions. It suggests that unpacking such imaginaries within a historical and relational global view may contribute to understanding the role of nationalism and colonialism in Norway’s sustainability narratives, to potentially trigger change in the way we conceptualize welfare-state sustainability.

“I don't think I can help you anymore.” Sex workers' experiences of accessing mental health services in Ireland

AbstractThis paper is based on a study funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), exploring sex worker mental health through a qualitative study of eighteen sex workers living and working in the Republic of Ireland and with participants from service provider organizations. This paper utilizes and adapts the concept of minority stress to explain how it is the social world that contributes to difficulties in managing mental health, not just for the LGBTQ+ community but explicitly for sex workers, through intersectional stigma and discrimination. Ireland introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Act (2017) based on the Nordic model of client criminalization, which sought to prosecute those that purchase sex while reducing the legal culpability of sex workers. The paper explores how the mental health of sex workers living and working under the law is impacted and the difficulties negotiating access to mental health services once participants disclose their sex work.

Effectiveness and Equity in Primary Science and Mathematics Education in the Nordic Countries: A Review of the Book by Teig et al. (2024)

How effective is science and mathematics teaching in the Nordic countries? And how equitable is it? These are central questions of the book Effective and equitable teacher practice in mathematics and science education: A Nordic perspective across time and groups of students by Nani Teig, Trude Nilsen, and Kajsa Yang Hansen. In a collection of articles, the TIMSS data from 2011 to 2019 from the Nordic countries except Iceland are analysed using a quasi-longitudinal approach. The analyses show that equity in science and mathematics education is increasingly challenged, thereby endangering the Nordic model in education. It is a must read for policy makers and researchers who seek to make the education systems of the Nordic countries resilient in face of present and future challenges, to ensure equity and quality education.

Road-traffic noise exposure and coronary atherosclerosis in the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS).

Road-traffic noise may influence the development of cardiovascular events such as stroke and myocardial infarction, but etiological mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the relationship between long-term road-traffic noise exposure and coronary atherosclerosis in Sweden. In the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS) cohort, including 30,154 subjects aged 50-65 years, recruited between 2013 and 2018, coronary atherosclerosis was measured based on computer tomography (CT) scans as coronary artery calcium score, segment involvement score (SIS), and non-calcified plaques (NCP) at enrollment. Based on modified Nordic model, road-traffic noise exposure was modeled for 2000, 2013, and 2018 with interpolation for intermediate years. We investigated the association between time-weighted long-term exposure to road-traffic noise (Lden) and the prevalence of atherosclerosis using ordinal logistic regression models adjusting for potential socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental confounders, including air pollution. No clear associations were found between road-traffic noise and coronary atherosclerosis. The odds ratio for coronary artery calcium score was 1.00 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96, 1.04), SIS 0.99 (0.96, 1.03), and NCP 0.98 (0.90, 1.03) per interquartile range (9.4 dB Lden) for road-traffic noise exposure during 10 years before enrollment. No consistent associations were observed in site-specific analyses or using shorter exposure periods. Furthermore, exposure-response analyses revealed no clear trends, and there were no strong interactions between road-traffic noise and cardiovascular risk factors in relation to the atherosclerosis markers. Long-term exposure to road-traffic noise was not linked to coronary atherosclerosis or calcification in relatively healthy, middle-aged populations in Sweden.

Teenage childbearing and the welfare state

Abstract Teenage childbearing is a common incident in developed countries. However, teenage births are much more likely in the USA than in any other industrialized country. Most of these births are delivered by female teenagers from low-income families. The hypothesis put forward here is that the welfare state (a set of redistributive institutions) has a significant influence on teenage childbearing behavior. We develop an economic theory of parental investments and the risky sexual behavior of teenagers. The model is estimated to fit stylized facts about income inequality, intergenerational mobility, and the sexual behavior of teenagers in the USA. The welfare state institutions are introduced via tax and public education expenditure functions derived from US data. In a quantitative experiment, we impose Norwegian taxes and education spending in the economic environment. The Norwegian welfare state institutions go a long way in explaining the differences in teenage birth rates between the USA and Norway.

Gendered Relationship of Childbearing with Earnings Accumulated by Midlife in Two Nordic Welfare States

AbstractThe Nordic welfare states are considered advanced in terms of gender equality, but even in these countries women still take longer family leave and have lower earnings than men. This study provides new insights by assessing the differences in accumulated midlife earnings associated with childbearing between women and men in Finland and Sweden. We pay particular attention to the size of the gender gap in accumulated earnings across groups. We hypothesize that the gender gap will be larger among those with a larger number of children, among those with a lower level of education, and overall in Finland. The study is based on complete population register data, with highly accurate measures of earnings over decades. Our results show that by the age of 44, women born in 1974–1975 in Finland and Sweden had earned on average 32% and 29% less than men, respectively. Childbearing strongly modifies the gender gap, especially in Finland, and the highly educated have moderately smaller gaps in both countries. Our results show that, even the Nordic welfare states, despite their strong policy emphasis on gender equality and their success in achieving high levels of female labor force participation, are far from closing the gender gap in earnings accumulated over the first half of the life course. Our results also suggest that governments seeking to achieve gender equality should be cautious about providing long family-related leave with flat-rate compensation.

Alþingi og framkvæmdarvaldið

Samskipti og staða Alþingis gagnvart framkvæmdarvaldinu kemur oft til umræðu. Hér er rannsakað með eigindlegum aðferðum hvernig þingmenn og ráðherrar upplifa aðstöðu þessara þátta ríkisvaldsins við lagasetningu. Fram kemur að Alþingis hefur virkt neitunarvald. Það er hjá mismörgum aðilum eftir fjölda ríkisstjórnarflokka; hjá þingflokki ráðherrans, samstarfsflokki/samstarfsflokkum hans og hjá stjórnarandstöðunni. Allir beita þeir því valdi í einhverjum mæli eftir aðstæðum bæði fyrir og í þinglegri meðferð mála. Flestir viðmælendur telja sig meðvitaða um mikið vald Alþingis í lagasetningunni. Þingið ætti að geta aukið það enn frekar með upptöku norræna módelsins til fulls (samningalýðræði), sú breyting eykur líka samfélagsleg gæði; það getur líka bætt vinnubrögð stjórnkerfisins sem heildar við lagasetningu með breytingum á staðsetningu verkefna (fært þau fyrr í feril mála), sem ætti ekki að hafa áhrif á völd þess - og styrkt stöðu sína varðandi dagskrá mála.

The welfare state as a child of the growth economy and a troubled midwife of an eco-social transformation: a commentary on ‘Postgrowth welfare systems: a view from the Nordic context’ by Riya Raphael et al

In Raphael et al (2024) the authors discuss very well how encompassing (Nordic) welfare states can both facilitate a transition to sustainable, post-growth societies, yet are also fundamentally challenged by such a transition. However, I emphasise room for better elaboration in terms of: 1. Emphasising the structural challenges induced by ‘the new politics of the welfare state’ rather than ascribing inequality to the privatisation of public services. 2. Better elaboration of the ‘synergy hypothesis’ from other literature on potential intersections between welfare regimes, varieties of capitalism, and sustainability transformations. 3. Discussing the specific economic, monetary and fiscal policies needed to aid societal transformations and abolish the growth dependencies of established welfare states.