Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:25:28.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nordic welfare state in a European context: dealing with new economic and ideological challenges in the 1990s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Stein Kuhnle
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Within the framework of a general discussion of ‘the state of the welfare state’ in economically advanced West European democracies, this paper offers an account and interpretation of how the Nordic welfare states, often perceived as the most comprehensive and ‘generous’ welfare states, met a number of challenges in the 1990s. Economic problems were most critical in Finland and Sweden in the early 1990s, and social policy reform activities with the aim of modifications of programmes and cutbacks in expenditure have been most pronounced in these countries. A single common denominator for Nordic welfare state development in the 1990s is a somewhat less generous welfare state, but Norway is generally an exception. The basic structure of the welfare systems has been preserved, and social, health and welfare issues are consistently of high priority for governments and voters. The welfare state is highly valued in Scandinavia, but more space for market and other non-governmental welfare solutions is likely to grow in the future.

Type
Focus: The future of the Welfare State
Information
European Review , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 2000 , pp. 379 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alber, J. (1988) Is there a crisis of the welfare state?, European Sociological Review, 4(3), 181–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allardt, E. (1986) The civic conception of the welfare state in Scandinavia. In: Rose, R. and Shiratori, R. (eds) The Welfare State. East and West. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 107–125.Google Scholar
Baldwin, P. (1997) State and citizenship in the age of globalization. In: Koslowski, P. and Follesdal, A. (eds) Restructuring the Welfare State: Theory and Reform of Social Policy. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 95–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, B. (1983) Self–government revisited. In: Miller, D. and Siedentop, L. (eds), The Nature of Political Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Castles, F. G. (ed.) (1993) Families of Nations: Patterns of Public Policy in Western Democracies. Aldershot: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
Crozier, M., Huntington, S. P., and Watanuki, J. (eds) (1975) The Crisis of Democracy. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Eitrheim, P. and Kuhnle, S. (2000) Nordic welfare states in the 1990s: Institutional stability, signs of divergence. In Kuhnle, S. (ed) Survival of the European Welfare State. London: Routledge, pp. 39–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrera, M. (1993) EC Citizens and Social Protection. Main Results from a Eurobarometer Study. Brussels: EC Commission, Div. V/E/2.Google Scholar
Ferrera, M. (1997) Four social Europes between universalism and selectivity. In: Meny, Y. and Rhodes, M. (eds) A New Social Contract. London: Macmillan, pp. 81–96.Google Scholar
Flora, P. (ed) (1986, 1987) Growth to Limits. The Western European Welfare States Since World War II, Vols. 1 and 2 (1986), Vol. 4 (1987). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Flora, P. (1993) The national welfare states and European integration. In: Moreno, L. (ed) Social Exchange and Welfare Development. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, pp. 11–22.Google Scholar
Goul Andersen, J. (2000) Welfare crisis and beyond: Danish welfare policies in the 1980s and 1990s. In: Kuhnle, S. (ed.) Survival of the European Welfare State. London: Routledge, pp. 235–261.Google Scholar
Goul Andersen, J., Pettersen, P. A., Svallfors, S., and Unsitalō, H. (1999) The legitimacy of the Nordic welfare states: trends, variations and causes. In: Kautto, M., Heikkila, M., Hvinden, B., Marklund, S. and Ploug, N. (eds) Nordic Social Policy. Changing Welfare States. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (1976) Legitimation Crisis. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hagen, K. (1998) Towards a Europeanization of social policies? A Scandinavian perspective.Paper presented at MIRE Conference (Comparing Social Welfare Systems in Nordic Countries and France),Gilleleje, Denmark4–6 September (mimeo.).Google Scholar
Heikkilä, M. and Uusitalo, H. (eds) (1997) The Cost of the Cuts. Helsinki, STAKES.Google Scholar
Hirschman, A. O. (1971) Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hort, S. and Kuhnle, S. (2000) The coming of east and southeast Asian welfare states?, to be published in 2000 in Journal of European Social Policy, 10(2).Google Scholar
Kuhnle, S. (1981) The growth of social insurance programmes in Scandinavia: outside influences and internal forces. In: Flora, P. and Heidenheimer, A.J. (eds) The Development of Welfare States in Europe and America. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, pp. 125–150.Google Scholar
Kuhnle, S. (2000) The Scandinavian type of welfare state in the 1990s: challenged, but viable. In: Ferrera, M. and Rhodes, M. (eds) Recasting European Welfare States. London: Frank Cass, and in West European Politics (Special Issue).Google Scholar
Kuhnle, S. and Alestalo, M. (2000) Introduction: growth, adjustments and survival of European welfare states. In: Kuhnle, S. (ed) Survival of the European Welfare State. London: Routledge, pp. 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehto, J.Moss, N. and Rostgaard, T. (1999) Universal public social care and health services?, Kautto, M. et al. (eds) Nordic Social Policy. London: Routledge, pp. 104–132.Google Scholar
Leibfried, S. (1993) Towards a European welfare state? On integrating poverty regimes in the European Community. In: Jones, C. (ed) New Perspectives on the Welfare State. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 133–156Google Scholar
Leibfried, S. and Pierson, P. (1995) Semisovereign welfare states: social policy in a multitiered Europe. In: Leibfried, and Pierson, (eds) European Social Policy: Between Fragmentation and Integration. Washington DC: Brookings, 43–77.Google Scholar
Marklund, S. and Nordlund, A. (1999) Economic problems, welfare convergence and political instability. In: Kautto, M. et al. (eds) Nordic Social Policy. London: Routledge, pp. 19–53.Google Scholar
Nososco, (1992) Social trygghet i de nordiske land: omfang, utgifter og finansiering 1990, Statistical Reports of the Nordic Countries no 58. Copenhagen: Nordic Social–Statistical Committee.Google Scholar
Nososco, (1997) Social protection in the Nordic countries: scope, expenditure and financing 1995, Nordic Social–Statistical Committee no 7:97. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J. (1973) The Fiscal Crisis of the State. NY: St. Martins Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (1981) The Welfare State in Crisis. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1996) Economic Surveys: Finland. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1997) Economic Outlook, no.59. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1997a) Economic Outlook, no. 61 Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1997b) Economic Surveys: Denmark. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1997c) Economic Surveys: Norway. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1997d) Economic Surveys: Sweden. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Østerud, Ø. (1999) Globaliseringen og nasjonalstaten. Oslo: AdNotam Gyldendal.Google Scholar
Paci, M. (1987) Long waves in the development of welfare systems. In Maier, C. (ed) Changing Boundaries of the Political. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 179–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersson, O. (1998) Nordisk politik. Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik.Google Scholar
Pierson, P. (1994) Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (1996) The new politics of the welfare state, World Politics, 48(2): 143–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ploug, N. (1999) Cuts in and reform of the Nordic cash benefit systems. In: Kautto, M. et al. (eds) Nordic Social Policy. London: Routledge, pp. 79–103.Google Scholar
Rose, R. and Peters, G. (1978) Can Government Go Bankrupt?.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpf, F. (1997) European integration, democracy, and welfare states, Journal of European Public Policy, 4(1), 18–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selle, P. and Øymyr, B. (1995) Frivillig organisering og demokrati (Oslo: Samlaget).Google Scholar
Social Security Programmes Throughout the World 1995. Washington DC: Social Security Administration.Google Scholar
Sørensen, O. and Stråth, B. (1997) Introduction: the cultural construction of Norden in Sorensen, O. and Strath, B. (eds) The Cultural Construction of Norden. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1–24.Google Scholar
Stephens, J. (1996) The Scandinavian welfare states: achievements, crisis, and prospects. In: Esping–Andersen, G. (ed) Welfare States in Transition. London: Sage, pp. 32–65.Google Scholar
Swaan, A. de (1990) Perspectives for transnational social policy.Paper, World Congress of Sociology,9–13 July,Madrid (mimeo).Google Scholar
Teague, P. (1998) Monetary Union and social Europe, Journal of European Social Policy, 8(2), 117–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kersbergen, K. (2000) The declining resistance of welfare states to change? In Kuhnle, S. (ed) Survival of the European Welfare State. London: Routledge, pp. 19–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisbrod, B.A. (1977) The Voluntary Non–Profit Sector: An Economic Analysis. Lexington, MA: Heath.Google Scholar