Globalising the Nordic Model: From exceptionalism to entanglement

by Mary Hilson (Editor), Carl Marklund (Editor), Andreas Mørkved Hellenes (Editor), Byron Z. Rom-Jensen (Editor)

Overview

The five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) frequently attract attention as examples of a ‘Nordic model’. The meanings of the term vary, but especially since the global financial crisis of 2008-9 the Nordic countries have often been portrayed positively, as examples of economic dynamism, innovation and social equality. Studies of these images of the Nordic countries and their international circulations have opened new horizons for understanding the global influences upon the Nordic model. This volume explores how the Nordic model has been shaped by global entanglements, in exchange not only with Western Europe and North America, but also with the Global South. Drawing on selected case studies, the volume offers new perspectives on the meanings of the Nordic model and Nordic exceptionalism in a global context during the half century since c. 1970.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526184283
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	03/31/2026
Series:	European Politics
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andreas Mørkved Hellenes is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, and research fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.
Mary Hilson is professor at the Department of History and Classical Studies, Aarhus University.
Carl Marklund is affiliated scholar at Institute of Contemporary History, Södertörn University, and senior researcher at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä.
Byron Zachary Rom-Jensen is post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Nordic models in global entanglements
Mary Hilson, Andreas Mørkved Hellenes, Carl Marklund, Byron Z. Rom-Jensen

1: The evolution of Nordic global entanglements since 1960
Mary Hilson, Carl Marklund, Andreas Mørkved Hellenes, Byron Z. Rom-Jensen

2: Mobilising Nordic experiences for development: Co-operative movements and development aid in Denmark and Sweden, 1960s-1970s
Mary Hilson

3: The Portugal campaign: Swedish social democratic assistance in Portugal after the Carnation Revolution
Carl Marklund and Jan Olsson

4: A religious group versus a multinational corporation: Finn Church Aid, Namibia and the Shell boycott
Jerkko Holmi

5: Being Nordic, becoming Nordic: The Nordic gender equality model in the ‘WoMen and Democracy’ conferences
Byron Z. Rom-Jensen

6: The Nordic state as a global investor: A reflection on Norway’s ethical stance on investments since 2000
Ada Nissen and Einar Lie

7: Development aid and aid critique: Jakob Ejersbo’s Liberty and the postcolonial turn in Danish literature and public discourse
Lill-Ann Körber

8: Social democracy or neoliberalism with a human face? Discursive uses and meanings of the Nordic model in Spain in the aftermath of the great recession (2013-2016)
Alan Granadino

9: From activist to feminist: Turning foreign policy into a Swedish model
Emma Elinor Lundin

10: Public health nationalism and diplomacy: The Swedish and Nordic models in the global COVID-19 pandemic
Yohann Aucante