127-427: MGP Nordic ( Melodi Grand Prix Nordic ) was a Scandinavian song contest for children aged 8 to 15, organized by DR , NRK , SVT and Yle through Yle Fem . It originated as a 2000 spin-off of Denmark 's Eurovision Song Contest national final known as De unges Melodi Grand Prix , but expanded to become MGP Nordic in 2002 with the addition of Norway and Sweden . The competing entries were sung primarily in
254-584: A loanword from the North Germanic languages ; " Skaði " is the jötunn stepmother of Freyr and Freyja in Norse mythology . It has been suggested that Skaði to some extent is modelled on a Sámi woman. The name for Skaði's father Þjazi is known in Sámi as Čáhci , "the waterman"; and her son with Odin, Sæmingr , can be interpreted as a descendant of Saam , the Sámi population. Older joik texts give evidence of
381-419: A "Scandinavian model" economy, with high taxes and a robust welfare state. Socialist economists Pranab Bardhan and John Roemer criticize Nordic-style social democracy for its questionable effectiveness in promoting relative egalitarianism as well as its sustainability . They posit that Nordic social democracy requires a strong labour movement to sustain the heavy redistribution required, arguing that it
508-597: A 2017 study, economists James Heckman and Rasmus Landersøn compared American and Danish social mobility, and found that social mobility is not as high as figures might suggest in the Nordic countries, although they did find that Denmark ranks higher in income mobility. When looking exclusively at wages (before taxes and transfers), Danish and American social mobility are very similar; it is only after taxes and transfers are taken into account that Danish social mobility improves, indicating that Danish economic redistribution policies are
635-648: A brief but disastrous war between Denmark and Prussia (supported by Austria). Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by Prussia and after Prussia's success in the Franco-Prussian War a Prussian-led German Empire was created and a new power -balance in the Baltic region was established. The Scandinavian Monetary Union , established in 1873, lasted until World War I . The term Scandinavia (sometimes specified in English as Continental Scandinavia or mainland Scandinavia )
762-439: A broader perspective on well-being incorporating, such as social issues associated with bodily integrity or bodily citizenship, then some major forms of men's domination still stubbornly persist in the Nordic countries, e.g. business, violence to women, sexual violence to children, the military, academia, and religion. While praising the Nordic model as a "clear and compelling contrast to the neoliberal ideology that has strafed
889-680: A capitalist economy. To a large extent, that consists of using public insurance programs – government transfers and services." Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says that there is higher social mobility in the Scandinavian countries than in the United States and posits that Scandinavia is now the land of opportunity that the United States once was. American author Ann Jones , who lived in Norway for four years, posits that "the Nordic countries give their populations freedom from
1016-484: A modern and more inclusive demonym . In the ethnic or cultural sense, the term Scandinavian traditionally refers to speakers of Scandinavian languages , who are mainly descendants of the peoples historically known as Norsemen , but also to some extent of immigrants and others who have been assimilated into that culture and language. In this sense the term refers primarily to native Danes , Norwegians and Swedes as well as descendants of Scandinavian settlers such as
1143-499: A normal workday, protective legislation, minimum wages." Arguing against those to their left, the party favored moderatism and wanted to help workers in the here and now, and followed the Fabian argument that the policies were steps on the road to socialism, which would not come about through violent revolution but through the social corporative model of welfare capitalism , to be seen as progressive in providing institutional legitimacy to
1270-471: A quarter of the country's gross domestic product . In Sweden, the grand compromise was pushed forward by the Saltsjöbaden Agreement signed by employer and trade union associations at the seaside retreat of Saltsjöbaden in 1938. This agreement provided the foundation for Scandinavian industrial relations throughout Europe's Golden Age of Capitalism . The Swedish model of capitalism developed under
1397-708: A reduction of 10.9 p.p., the effects of tax and transfers on poverty in all the Nordic countries are substantially bigger. In comparison to France (27 p.p. reduction) and Germany (24.2 p.p. reduction), the taxes and transfers in the Nordic countries are smaller on average. The term 'peasant republic' is sometimes applied to certain communities in Scandinavia during the Viking Age and High Middle Ages , especially in Sweden , where royal power seems to have been initially somewhat weak, and in areas of modern day Sweden that were not under
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#17330857912351524-549: A review by Emanuele Ferragina and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser of works about the different models of welfare states, apart from Belgium and the Netherlands, categorized as "medium-high socialism", the Scandinavian countries analyzed (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) were the only ones to be categorized by sociologist Gøsta Esping-Andersen as "high socialism", which is defined as socialist attributes and values (equality and universalism) and
1651-461: A robust work ethic and considerable social cohesion". According to Luciano Pellicani , the social and political measures adopted in countries like Sweden and Denmark are the same that some other European left-wing politicians theorised to combine justice and freedom , referring to liberal socialism and movements like Giustizia e Libertà and Fabian Society . According to Naomi Klein , former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sought to move
1778-418: A sizable percentage of the population employed by the public sector (roughly 30% of the work force in areas such as healthcare , education, and government), and a corporatist system with a high percentage of the workforce unionized and involving a tripartite arrangement , where representatives of labour and employers negotiate wages and labour market policy is mediated by the government. As of 2020, all of
1905-448: A variant of capitalism based on the predominance of private property and market allocation mechanisms alongside a set of policies for promoting economic security and opportunity within the framework of a capitalist economy as opposed to a political ideology that aims to replace capitalism. While many countries have been categorized as social democratic , the Nordic countries have been the only ones to be constantly categorized as such. In
2032-569: A visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism. In a letter describing the poem to a friend, he wrote: "All at once I understood how related the Swedes, the Danes and the Norwegians are, and with this feeling I wrote the poem immediately after my return: 'We are one people, we are called Scandinavians! ' ". The influence of Scandinavism as a Scandinavist political movement peaked in
2159-452: A weakening of the influence of organized labor." In the 1950s, Olof Palme and the prime minister Tage Erlander formulated the basis of Swedish social democracy and what would become known as the "Swedish model", drawing inspiration from the reformist socialism of party founder Hjalmar Branting , who stated that socialism "would not be created by brutalized...slaves [but by] the best positioned workers, those who have gradually obtained
2286-734: Is 38.0 °C in Målilla (Sweden). The coldest temperature ever recorded is −52.6 °C in Vuoggatjålme , Arjeplog (Sweden). The coldest month was February 1985 in Vittangi (Sweden) with a mean of −27.2 °C. Southwesterly winds further warmed by foehn wind can give warm temperatures in narrow Norwegian fjords in winter. Tafjord has recorded 17.9 °C in January and Sunndal 18.9 °C in February. The words Scandinavia and Scania ( Skåne ,
2413-513: Is Finnish (usually from the 3rd grade), while for Finnish-speakers it is Swedish (usually from the 3rd, 5th or 7th grade). Finnish speakers constitute a language minority in Sweden and Norway. Meänkieli and Kven are Finnish dialects spoken in Swedish Lapland and Norwegian Lapland . The Sámi languages are indigenous minority languages in Scandinavia. They belong to their own branch of
2540-514: Is a phonotactic structure of alien origin. Although the term Scandinavia used by Pliny the Elder probably originated in the ancient Germanic languages, the modern form Scandinavia does not descend directly from the ancient Germanic term. Rather the word was brought into use in Europe by scholars borrowing the term from ancient sources like Pliny, and was used vaguely for Scania and the southern region of
2667-407: Is also due to the fact that that Swedish was the dominant language when Finland was part of Sweden. Finnish-speakers had to learn Swedish in order to advance to higher positions. Swedish spoken in today's Finland includes a lot of words that are borrowed from Finnish, whereas the written language remains closer to that of Sweden. Finland is officially bilingual, with Finnish and Swedish having mostly
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#17330857912352794-520: Is based on a "welfare-to-work" (see workfare ) model while part of Finland's welfare state includes the voluntary sector playing a significant role in providing care for the elderly. Norway relies most extensively on public provision of welfare. When it comes to gender equality, the Nordic countries hold one of the smallest gaps in gender employment inequality of all OECD countries, with less than 8 points in all Nordic countries according to International Labour Organization standards. They have been at
2921-524: Is based on the degree of mutual comprehensibility between the languages in the two branches. The populations of the Scandinavian countries, with common Scandinavian roots in language, can—at least with some training—understand each other's standard languages as they appear in print and are heard on radio and television. The reason Danish, Swedish and the two official written versions of Norwegian ( Nynorsk and Bokmål ) are traditionally viewed as different languages, rather than dialects of one common language,
3048-547: Is because they have two official written standards, in addition to the habit of strongly holding on to local dialects. The people of Stockholm , Sweden and Copenhagen , Denmark have the greatest difficulty in understanding other Scandinavian languages. In the Faroe Islands and Iceland, learning Danish is mandatory. This causes Faroese people as well as Icelandic people to become bilingual in two very distinct North Germanic languages, making it relatively easy for them to understand
3175-446: Is characterized by flexibility and openness to innovation in the provision of welfare. The Nordic welfare systems are mainly funded through taxation . Despite the common values, the Nordic countries take different approaches to the practical administration of the welfare state. Denmark features a high degree of private sector provision of public services and welfare, alongside an assimilation immigration policy. Iceland's welfare model
3302-506: Is different from usage in the Scandinavian languages themselves (which use Scandinavia in the narrow meaning), and by the fact that the question of whether a country belongs to Scandinavia is politicised. People from the Nordic world beyond Norway, Denmark and Sweden may be offended at being either included in or excluded from the category of "Scandinavia". Nordic countries is used unambiguously for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, including their associated territories Greenland,
3429-706: Is idealistic to think similar levels of redistribution can be accomplished in countries with weaker labour movements. They say that even in the Scandinavian countries social democracy has been in decline since the weakening of the labour movement in the early 1990s, arguing that the sustainability of social democracy is limited. Roemer and Bardham posit that establishing a market-based socialist economy by changing enterprise ownership would be more effective than social democratic redistribution at promoting egalitarian outcomes, particularly in countries with weak labour movements. Historian Guðmundur Jónsson said that it would be historically inaccurate to include Iceland in one aspect of
3556-421: Is most extensive in Norway and Sweden, where employer federations and labour representatives bargain at the national level mediated by the government. Labour market interventions are aimed at providing job retraining and relocation. The Nordic labour market is flexible, with laws making it easy for employers to hire and shed workers or introduce labour-saving technology. To mitigate the negative effect on workers,
3683-466: Is ordinarily used locally for Denmark, Norway and Sweden as a subset of the Nordic countries (known in Norwegian, Danish , and Swedish as Norden ; Finnish : Pohjoismaat , Icelandic : Norðurlöndin , Faroese : Norðurlond ). However, in English usage, the term Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym or near-synonym for what are known locally as Nordic countries . Usage in English
3810-649: Is still a hotly debated issue, both in scholarly discussions and in the nationalistic discourse of various European countries. The form Scadinavia as the original home of the Langobards appears in Paul the Deacon ' Historia Langobardorum , but in other versions of Historia Langobardorum appear the forms Scadan , Scandanan , Scadanan and Scatenauge . Frankish sources used Sconaowe and Aethelweard , an Anglo-Saxon historian, used Scani . In Beowulf ,
3937-659: Is that each is a well-established standard language in its respective country. Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have since medieval times been influenced to varying degrees by Middle Low German and standard German. That influence was due not only to proximity, but also to the rule of Denmark—and later Denmark-Norway—over the German-speaking region of Holstein, and to Sweden's close trade with the Hanseatic League . Norwegians are accustomed to variation and may perceive Danish and Swedish only as slightly more distant dialects. This
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4064-639: Is wrong, saying that "the success of Nordic countries like Sweden – as measured by relatively high living standards accompanied by low poverty, with government-funded education through university, universal health coverage, generous parental-leave policies and long life spans – precedes the contemporary welfare state.", adding that "Research has suggested that the Northern European success story has its roots in cultural rather than economic factors. The Scandinavian countries ... historically developed remarkably high levels of social trust,
4191-649: The Chinese way of doing things before the Chinese', says Torger Reve of the Norwegian Business School." The government also operates a sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund of Norway , whose partial objective is to prepare Norway for a post-oil future but "unusually among oil-producing nations, it is also a big advocate of human rights – and a powerful one, thanks to its control of
4318-510: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . A key ancient description of Scandinavia was provided by Pliny the Elder , though his mentions of Scatinavia and surrounding areas are not always easy to decipher. Writing in the capacity of a Roman admiral, he introduces the northern region by declaring to his Roman readers that there are 23 islands "Romanis armis cognitae" ("known to Roman arms") in this area. According to Pliny,
4445-622: The European Union in the 1970s, reflecting the different political approaches to it among the Nordic countries. The early 1990s recession affected the Nordic countries and caused a deep crisis in Finland, and came amid the context of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and collapse of trade from the Eastern Bloc . Like in Sweden, Finland's universalistic welfare state based on the Nordic model
4572-624: The Icelanders and the Faroese . The term is also used in this ethnic sense, to refer to the modern descendants of the Norse, in studies of linguistics and culture. Additionally the term Scandinavian is used demonymically to refer to all modern inhabitants or citizens of Scandinavian countries. Within Scandinavia the demonymic term primarily refers to inhabitants or citizens of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In English usage inhabitants or citizens of Iceland,
4699-565: The Nordic countries ( Denmark , Finland , Iceland , Norway , and Sweden ). This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level collective bargaining based on the economic foundations of social corporatism , and a commitment to private ownership within a market-based mixed economy – with Norway being a partial exception due to a large number of state-owned enterprises and state ownership in publicly listed firms . Although there are significant differences among
4826-613: The Scandinavian Peninsula (which excludes Denmark but includes a part of northern Finland ). In English usage, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for Nordic countries . Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes included in Scandinavia for their ethnolinguistic relations with Sweden, Norway and Denmark. While Finland differs from other Nordic countries in this respect, some authors call it Scandinavian due to its economic and cultural similarities. The geography of
4953-574: The Scandinavian Peninsula since prehistory—the North Germanic languages (Scandinavian languages) and the Uralic languages , Sámi and Finnish . Most people in Scandinavia today speak Scandinavian languages that evolved from Old Norse , originally spoken by ancient Germanic tribes in southern Scandinavia. The Continental Scandinavian languages— Danish , Norwegian and Swedish —form a dialect continuum and are considered mutually intelligible. The Insular Scandinavian languages— Faroese and Icelandic —on
5080-540: The Soviet Union in a similar direction to the Nordic system, combining free markets with a social safety net, but still retaining public ownership of key sectors of the economy – ingredients that he believed would transform the Soviet Union into "a socialist beacon for all mankind." The Nordic model has also been positively received by various social scientists and economists. American professor of sociology and political science Lane Kenworthy advocates for
5207-693: The Sámi people in northern Scandinavia. The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia are traditionally divided into an East Scandinavian branch (Danish and Swedish) and a West Scandinavian branch (Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese), but because of changes appearing in the languages since 1600 the East Scandinavian and West Scandinavian branches are now usually reconfigured into Insular Scandinavian ( ö-nordisk / øy-nordisk ) featuring Icelandic and Faroese and Continental Scandinavian ( Skandinavisk ), comprising Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The modern division
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5334-461: The Thing or Moot . The Nordic model traces its foundation to the "grand compromise" between workers and employers spearheaded by farmer and worker parties in the 1930s. Following a long period of economic crisis and class struggle, the "grand compromise" served as the foundation for the post-World War II Nordic model of welfare and labour market organization. The key characteristics of the Nordic model were
5461-431: The Uralic language family and are unrelated to the North Germanic languages other than by limited grammatical (particularly lexical) characteristics resulting from prolonged contact. Sámi is divided into several languages or dialects. Consonant gradation is a feature in both Finnish and northern Sámi dialects, but it is not present in southern Sámi, which is considered to have a different language history. According to
5588-535: The arms industry . In 2013, The Economist described its countries as "stout free-traders who resist the temptation to intervene even to protect iconic companies", while also looking for ways to temper capitalism's harsher effects and declared that the Nordic countries "are probably the best-governed in the world." Some economists have referred to the Nordic economic model as a form of "cuddly capitalism", with low levels of inequality, generous welfare states, and reduced concentration of top incomes, contrasting it with
5715-584: The labour movement by recognizing the existence of the class conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat as a class compromise within the context of existing class conflict. This Swedish model was characterized by a strong labour movement as well as inclusive publicly funded and often publicly administered welfare institutions. By the early 1980s, the Swedish model began to suffer from international imbalances, declining competitiveness and capital flight. Two polar opposite solutions emerged to restructure
5842-434: The social cohesion in the Nordic countries. Among political scientists and sociologists, the term social democracy has become widespread to describe the Nordic model due to the influence of social democratic party governance in Sweden and Norway, in contrast to other classifications such as liberal or Christian democratic. According to sociologist Lane Kenworthy , the meaning of social democracy in this context refers to
5969-492: The social liberal paradigm, which was followed by the neoliberal paradigm by the 1980s and 1990s. According to Phillip O'Hara, "Sweden eventually became part of the Great Capitalist Restoration of the 1980s and 1990s. In all the industrial democracies and beyond, this recent era has seen the retrenchment of the welfare state by reduced social spending in real terms, tax cuts, deregulation and privatization, and
6096-460: The "clarissima" ("most famous") of the region's islands is Scatinavia , of unknown size. There live the Hilleviones . The belief that Scandinavia was an island became widespread among classical authors during the 1st century and dominated descriptions of Scandinavia in classical texts during the centuries that followed. Pliny begins his description of the route to Scatinavia by referring to
6223-590: The 1980s and the financial crises of the 1990s which led to more restrictive budgetary policies that were most pronounced in Sweden and Iceland. Nonetheless, welfare expenditure remained high in these countries, compared to the European average. Social welfare reforms emerged from the Kanslergade Agreement of 1933 as part of a compromise package to save the Danish economy. Denmark was the first Nordic country to join
6350-458: The 1990s reforms was the substantial growth of mutual fund savings, which largely began with the government subsidizing mutual fund savings through the so-called Allemansfonder program in the 1980s; today 4 out of 5 people aged 18–74 have fund savings. The state of Norway has ownership stakes in many of the country's largest publicly listed companies, owning 37% of the Oslo stock market and operating
6477-470: The Faroe Islands and Finland are sometimes included as well. English general dictionaries often define the noun Scandinavian demonymically as meaning any inhabitant of Scandinavia (which might be narrowly conceived or broadly conceived). There is a certain ambiguity and political contestation as to which peoples should be referred to as Scandinavian in this broader sense. Sámi people who live in Norway and Sweden are generally included as Scandinavians in
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#17330857912356604-674: The Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands. The geological term Fennoscandia (sometimes Fennoscandinavia ) refers to the Fennoscandian Shield (or Baltic Shield ), which includes the Scandinavian Peninsula, Finland and Karelia , and excludes Denmark and other parts of the wider Nordic world. The terms Fennoscandia and Fennoscandinavia are sometimes used in a political sense to refer to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. The term Scandinavian may be used with two principal meanings, in an ethnic or cultural sense and as
6731-519: The Finnish population. The coastal province of Ostrobothnia has a Swedish-speaking majority, whereas plenty of areas on this coastline are nearly unilingually Finnish, like the region of Satakunta . Åland, an autonomous province of Finland situated in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, are entirely Swedish-speaking. Children are taught the other official language at school: for Swedish-speakers this
6858-565: The Junior Eurovision Song Contest again for Sweden , returning in 2010 . As a result, MGP Nordic was cancelled and has not returned since. Scandinavia Nordic territories that are not part of Scandinavia: Chronological history Scandinavia is a subregion of Northern Europe , with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. Scandinavia most commonly refers to Denmark , Norway , and Sweden . It can sometimes also refer to
6985-512: The Nobel peace prize." Norway is the only major economy in the north of Europe where younger generations are getting richer, with a 13% increase in disposable income income for 2018, bucking the trend seen in other european-northern nations of Millennials becoming poorer than the generations which came before. Social democrats have played a pivotal role in shaping the Nordic model, with policies enacted by social democrats being pivotal in fostering
7112-628: The Nordic countries rank highly on the inequality-adjusted HDI and the Global Peace Index as well as being ranked in the top 10 on the World Happiness Report . The Nordic model was originally developed in the 1930s under the leadership of social democrats , although centrist and right-wing political parties, as well as labour unions, also contributed to the Nordic model's development. The Nordic model began to gain attention after World War II and has transformed in some ways over
7239-514: The Nordic countries, they all have some common traits. The three Scandinavian countries are constitutional monarchies , while Finland and Iceland have been republics since the 20th century. All the Nordic countries are however described as being highly democratic and all have a unicameral legislature and use proportional representation in their electoral systems . They all support a universalist welfare state aimed specifically at enhancing individual autonomy and promoting social mobility , with
7366-502: The Nordic countries, it retains national-level sectoral bargaining unlike Denmark and Iceland , with over 650 national-level bargaining agreements, it retains the Ghent system unlike Norway and Iceland and consequently has the second-highest rate of unionization in the world. Despite being one of the most equal OECD nations, from 1985 to the 2010s Sweden saw the largest growth in income inequality among OECD economies. Other effects of
7493-449: The Nordic model in Sweden and Norway, whereas in Iceland and Finland, right-wing political parties played a much more significant role in shaping their countries' social models. However, even in Iceland and Finland, strong labour unions contributed to the development of universal welfare. Social security and collective wage bargaining policies were rolled back following economic imbalances in
7620-467: The Nordic model is "the proof that modern capitalism can be combined with decency, fairness, trust, honesty, and environmental sustainability." The Nordic combination of extensive public provision of welfare and a culture of individualism has been described by Lars Trägårdh of Ersta Sköndal University College as " statist individualism ." A 2016 survey by the think tank Israel Democracy Institute found that nearly 60 percent of Israeli Jews preferred
7747-520: The Nordic model to a kind of "hybrid" system which features a blend of capitalist economics with socialist values, representing an alternative to American-style capitalism . Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has pointed to Scandinavia and the Nordic model as something the United States can learn from, in particular with respect to the benefits and social protections the Nordic model affords workers and its provision of universal healthcare. Scandinavian political scientist Daniel Schatz argued that Sanders
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#17330857912357874-402: The Nordic model's parentage also stems from a mixture of mainly social democratic, centrist , and right-wing political parties, especially in Finland and Iceland, along with the social trust that emerged from the "great compromise" between capital and labour. The influence of each of these factors on each Nordic country varied as social democratic parties played a larger role in the formation of
8001-533: The Nordic model, that of consensus democracy . Addressing the time period from 1950 to 2000, Jónsson writes that "Icelandic democracy is better described as more adversarial than consensual in style and practice. The labour market was rife with conflict and strikes more frequent than in Europe, resulting in strained government–trade union relationship. Secondly, Iceland did not share the Nordic tradition of power-sharing or corporatism as regards labour market policies or macro-economic policy management, primarily because of
8128-556: The Russian Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and Norway ( de jure in union with Denmark since 1387, although de facto treated as a province) becoming independent in 1814, but thereafter swiftly forced to accept a personal union with Sweden. The dependent territories Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, historically part of Norway, remained with Denmark in accordance with the Treaty of Kiel . Sweden and Norway were thus united under
8255-658: The Swedish economy, the first being a transition to socialism by socializing the ownership of industry and the second providing favorable conditions for the formation of private capital by embracing neoliberalism. The Swedish model was first challenged in 1976 by the Meidner Plan promoted by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and trade unions which aimed at the gradual socialization of Swedish companies through wage earner funds. The Meidner Plan aimed to collectivize capital formation in two generations by having
8382-447: The Swedish king Gustav I led Sweden to independence. It also saw numerous wars between the nations, which shaped the modern borders. The most recent union was the union between Sweden and Norway , which ended in 1905. In modern times the region has prospered, with the economies of the countries being amongst the strongest in Europe. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland all maintain welfare systems considered to be generous, with
8509-541: The Swedish monarch, but Finland's inclusion in the Russian Empire excluded any possibility for a political union between Finland and any of the other Nordic countries. The end of the Scandinavian political movement came when Denmark was denied the military support promised from Sweden and Norway to annex the (Danish) Duchy of Schleswig , which together with the (German) Duchy of Holstein had been in personal union with Denmark. The Second war of Schleswig followed in 1864,
8636-706: The Sámi Information Centre of the Sámi Parliament of Sweden , southern Sámi may have originated in an earlier migration from the south into the Scandinavian Peninsula. German is a recognized minority language in Denmark. Recent migrations has added even more languages. Apart from the Sámi languages and the languages of minority groups speaking a variant of the majority language of a neighboring state, Yiddish , Romani Chib/Romanes, Scandoromani and Karelian are amongst those protected in parts of Scandinavia under
8763-430: The United States to make a gradual transition toward a social democracy similar to those of the Nordic countries, defining social democracy as such: "The idea behind social democracy was to make capitalism better. There is disagreement about how exactly to do that, and others might think the proposals in my book aren't true social democracy. But I think of it as a commitment to use government to make life better for people in
8890-423: The United States, in order to "stand as a beacon for the rest of the world in the 21st century." Swedish economist John Gustavsson, writing for American conservative magazine The Dispatch , criticized the Nordic model for its high taxation rates, including on the middle class and poor people. Political scientist Michael Cottakis has noted the rise of right-wing populist and anti-immigration sentiment in
9017-541: The auspices of the Swedish Social Democratic Party which assumed power in 1932 and retained uninterrupted power until 1976. Initially differing very little from other industrialized capitalist countries, the state's role in providing comprehensive welfare and infrastructure expanded after the Second World War until reaching a broadly social democratic consensus in the 1950s which would become known as
9144-552: The bottom of the Sustainable Development Index. He argues that the model needs to be updated for the Anthropocene , and reduce overconsumption while retaining the positive elements of progressive social democracy including universal healthcare and education, paid vacations and reasonable working hours, which have resulted in much better health outcomes and poverty reduction compared to overtly neoliberal countries like
9271-548: The centralized coordination of wage negotiation between employers and labour organizations , termed a social partnership, as well as providing a peaceful means to address class conflict between capital and labour. Magnus Bergli Rasmussen has challenged that farmers played an important role in ushering Nordic welfare states. A 2022 study by him found that farmers had strong incentives to resist welfare state expansion and farmer MPs consistently opposed generous welfare policies. Although often linked to social democratic governance,
9398-476: The contest due to concerns over the ethical treatment of competitors. As a result, MGP Nordic was revived in 2006, with the new addition of Finland to the competition a year later. In 2010, the contest was supposed to have taken place in Oslo, Norway , but it was cancelled due to Denmark pulling out in order to revise the participant requirements for DR 's participation in the contest. SVT has since begun competing in
9525-427: The country's largest non-listed companies, including Equinor and Statkraft . In January 2013, The Economist reported that "after the second world war the government nationalised all German business interests in Norway and ended up owning 44% of Norsk Hydro's shares. The formula of controlling business through shares rather than regulation seemed to work well, so the government used it wherever possible. 'We invented
9652-408: The demonymic sense; the Sámi of Finland may be included in English usage, but usually not in local usage; the Sámi of Russia are not included. However, the use of the term "Scandinavian" with reference to the Sámi is complicated by the historical attempts by Scandinavian majority peoples and governments in Norway and Sweden to assimilate the Sámi people into the Scandinavian culture and languages, making
9779-413: The dominant traditional religion of the Nordic countries, had an effect on the development of social democracy there. Schröder posits that Lutheranism promoted the idea of a nationwide community of believers and led to increased state involvement in economic and social life, allowing for nationwide welfare solidarity and economic co-ordination. Esa Mangeloja says that the revival movements helped to pave
9906-617: The economic and social policies of the countries being dubbed the " Nordic model ". The geography of Scandinavia is extremely varied. Notable are the Norwegian fjords , the Scandinavian Mountains covering much of Norway and parts of Sweden, the flat, low areas in Denmark and the archipelagos of Finland, Norway and Sweden. Finland and Sweden have many lakes and moraines , legacies of the ice age , which ended about ten millennia ago. The southern regions of Scandinavia, which are also
10033-403: The effects of taxes and transfers stood at 24.7% in Denmark, 31.9% in Finland, 21.6% in Iceland, 25.6% in Norway, and 26.5% in Sweden. After accounting for taxes and transfers, the poverty rates for the same year became 6%, 7.5%, 5.7%, 7.7% and 9.7% respectively, for an average reduction of 18.7 p.p. Compared to the United States, which has a poverty level pre-tax of 28.3% and post-tax of 17.4% for
10160-502: The end of the post-war boom. The Social Democrats adopted monetarist and neoliberal policies, deregulating the banking industry, and liberalizing currency in the 1980s. The economic crisis of the 1990s saw greater austerity measures, deregulation, and the privatization of public services. Into the 21st century, it greatly affected Sweden and its universalistic welfare state, although not as hard as Finland. Sweden remained more Eurosceptic than Finland, and its struggles affected all
10287-711: The exception of Norway which includes a large number of state-owned enterprises and state ownership in publicly listed firms. The Nordic model is described as a system of competitive capitalism combined with a large percentage of the population employed by the public sector , which amounts to roughly 30% of the work force, in areas such as healthcare and higher education . In Norway, Finland, and Sweden, many companies and/or industries are state-run or state-owned like utilities , mail , rail transport , airlines , electrical power industry , fossil fuels , chemical industry , steel mill , electronics industry , machine industry , aerospace manufacturer , shipbuilding , and
10414-532: The first Europeans to reach North America. These exploits saw the establishment of the North Sea Empire which comprised large parts of Scandinavia and Great Britain, though it was relatively short-lived. Scandinavia was eventually Christianized , and the coming centuries saw various unions of Scandinavian nations, most notably the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which lasted for over 100 years until
10541-401: The forefront of championing gender equality and this has been historically shown by substantial increases in women's employment. Between 1965 and 1990, Sweden's employment rate for women in working-age (15–64) went from 52.8% to 81.0%. In 2016, nearly three out of every four women in working-age in the Nordic countries were taking part in paid work. Nevertheless, women are still the main users of
10668-618: The forms Scedenige and Scedeland are used while the Alfredian translation of Orosius and Wulfstan 's travel accounts used the Old English Sconeg . The earliest Sámi joik texts written down refer to the world as Skadesi-suolu in Northern Sámi and Skađsuâl in Skolt Sámi , meaning " Skaði 's island". Svennung considers the Sámi name to have been introduced as
10795-481: The front of the implementation of policies that promote gender equality; the Scandinavian governments were some of the first to make it unlawful for companies to dismiss women on grounds of marriage or motherhood. Mothers in Nordic countries are more likely to be working mothers than in any other region and families enjoy pioneering legislation on parental leave policies that compensate parents for moving from work to home to care for their child, including fathers. Although
10922-401: The goddess Skaði may have once been a personification of the geographical region of Scandinavia or associated with the underworld. Another possibility is that all or part of the segments of the name came from the pre-Germanic Mesolithic people inhabiting the region. In modernity, Scandinavia is a peninsula, but between approximately 10,300 and 9,500 years ago the southern part of Scandinavia
11049-561: The government labour market policies are designed to provide generous social welfare, job retraining and relocation services to limit any conflicts between capital and labour that might arise from this process. The Nordic welfare model refers to the welfare policies of the Nordic countries, which also tie into their labour market policies. The Nordic model of welfare is distinguished from other types of welfare states by its emphasis on maximising labour force participation, promoting gender equality , egalitarian , and extensive benefit levels,
11176-463: The inclusion of the Sámi as "Scandinavians" controversial among many Sámi. Modern Sámi politicians and organizations often stress the status of the Sámi as a people separate from and equal to the Scandinavians, with their own language and culture, and are apprehensive about being included as "Scandinavians" in light of earlier Scandinavian assimilation policies. Two language groups have coexisted on
11303-451: The key drivers of greater mobility. Additionally, Denmark's greater investment in public education did not improve educational mobility significantly, meaning children of non-college educated parents are still unlikely to receive college education, although this public investment did result in improved cognitive skills amongst poor Danish children compared to their American peers. There was evidence that generous welfare policies could discourage
11430-428: The language of the church and law courts remained Icelandic. The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) unrelated to Finnish and the Sámi languages , which as Uralic languages are distantly related each other. Owing to the close proximity, there is still a great deal of borrowing from the Swedish and Norwegian languages in Finnish and the Sámi. The long history of linguistic influence of Swedish on Finnish
11557-422: The large magnitude of income redistribution and liberal use of expansionary fiscal policy. While there are differences among the Nordic countries, they all share a broad commitment to social cohesion , a universal nature of welfare provision in order to safeguard individualism by providing protection for vulnerable individuals and groups in society, and maximising public participation in social decision-making. It
11684-419: The last few decades, including increased deregulation and expanding privatization of public services . However, it is still distinguished from other models by the strong emphasis on public services and social investment. The Nordic model has been characterized as follows: The Nordic model is underpinned by a mixed-market capitalist economic system that features high degrees of private ownership, with
11811-531: The lowest poverty rate in the OECD of only 4.9%. Norway's "grand compromise" emerged as a response to the crisis of the early 1930s between the trade union confederation and Norwegian Employers' Association , agreeing on national standards in labour–capital relations and creating the foundation for social harmony throughout the period of compromises. For a period between the 1980s and the 1990s, Norway underwent more neoliberal reforms and marketization than Sweden during
11938-409: The market by using capitalism as a tool to benefit everyone" whereas in the United States " neoliberal politics puts the foxes in charge of the henhouse, and capitalists have used the wealth generated by their enterprises (as well as financial and political manipulations) to capture the state and pluck the chickens." Economist Jeffrey Sachs is a proponent of the Nordic model, having pointed out that
12065-602: The middle of the 19th century, between the First Schleswig War (1848–1850) and the Second Schleswig War (1864). The Swedish king also proposed a unification of Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a single united kingdom. The background for the proposal was the tumultuous events during the Napoleonic Wars in the beginning of the century. This war resulted in Finland (formerly the eastern third of Sweden) becoming
12192-440: The more "cut-throat capitalism" of the United States, which has high levels of inequality and a larger concentration of top incomes, among other social inequalities. As a result of the Sweden financial crisis of 1990–1994 , Sweden implemented economic reforms that were focused on deregulation and the strengthening of competition laws . Despite this however, Sweden still has the highest government spending-to-GDP ratio of all
12319-507: The most populous regions, have a temperate climate . Scandinavia extends north of the Arctic Circle , but has relatively mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream . Many of the Scandinavian mountains have an alpine tundra climate. The climate varies from north to south and from west to east: a marine west coast climate ( Cfb ) typical of western Europe dominates in Denmark,
12446-588: The mountain of Saevo ( mons Saevo ibi ), the Codanus Bay ("Codanus sinus") and the Cimbrian promontory. The geographical features have been identified in various ways. By some scholars, Saevo is thought to be the mountainous Norwegian coast at the entrance to Skagerrak and the Cimbrian peninsula is thought to be Skagen , the north tip of Jutland , Denmark. As described, Saevo and Scatinavia can also be
12573-585: The northwestern coast. A small area along the northern coast east of the North Cape has tundra climate (Et) as a result of a lack of summer warmth. The Scandinavian Mountains block the mild and moist air coming from the southwest, thus northern Sweden and the Finnmarksvidda plateau in Norway receive little precipitation and have cold winters. Large areas in the Scandinavian mountains have alpine tundra climate. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Scandinavia
12700-552: The official or co-official languages of the corresponding countries and written solely by the participants. MGP Nordic was put on hiatus in 2003 when the European Broadcasting Union began to organize the Junior Eurovision Song Contest , a pan-European expansion of the concept. Regional finalists were sent to the new competition instead of MGP Nordic until 2006, when the countries jointly pulled out of
12827-415: The old Sámi belief about living on an island and state that the wolf is known as suolu gievra , meaning "the strong one on the island". The Sámi place name Sulliidčielbma means "the island's threshold" and Suoločielgi means "the island's back". In recent substrate studies, Sámi linguists have examined the initial cluster sk - in words used in the Sámi languages and concluded that sk -
12954-558: The only Nordic country to become a Eurozone member state after fully adopting the euro as its official currency in 2002. According to analyst Harpa Njálsdóttir, Iceland in the late 2010s moved away from the Nordic model towards the economic liberal model of workfare . She also noted that with the large changes having been made to the social security system, "70% of elderly people now live well below national subsistence criteria, while about 70% of those who live alone and in bad conditions are women." Despite this, as of 2021, Iceland has
13081-463: The other Nordic countries, as it was seen as "the guiding star of the north", and with Sweden fading away, other Nordic countries also felt like they were losing their political identities. When the Nordic model was then gradually rediscovered, cultural explanations were sought for the special features of the Nordic countries. The Nordic model has been positively received by some American politicians and political commentators. Jerry Mander has likened
13208-490: The other are only partially intelligible to speakers of the continental Scandinavian languages. The Uralic languages are linguistically unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Finnish is the majority language in Finland, and a recognized minority language in Sweden. Meänkieli and Kven , sometimes considered as dialects of Finnish, are recognized minority languages in Sweden and Norway, respectively. The Sámi languages are indigenous minority languages in Scandinavia, spoken by
13335-469: The other two Mainland Scandinavian languages. Although Iceland was under the political control of Denmark until a much later date (1918), very little influence and borrowing from Danish has occurred in the Icelandic language. Icelandic remained the preferred language among the ruling classes in Iceland. Danish was not used for official communications, most of the royal officials were of Icelandic descent and
13462-428: The peninsula. The term was popularised by the linguistic and cultural Scandinavist movement , which asserted the common heritage and cultural unity of the Scandinavian countries and rose to prominence in the 1830s. The popular usage of the term in Sweden, Denmark and Norway as a unifying concept became established in the 19th century through poems such as Hans Christian Andersen 's "I am a Scandinavian" of 1839. After
13589-615: The pursuit of higher-level education due to decreasing the economic benefits that college education level jobs offer and increasing welfare for workers of a lower education level. Some welfare and gender researchers based in the Nordic countries suggest that these states have often been over-privileged when different European societies are being assessed in terms of how far they have achieved gender equality. They posit that such assessments often utilise international comparisons adopting conventional economic, political, educational, and well-being measures. By contrast, they suggest that if one takes
13716-568: The region can also be found in Pytheas , Pomponius Mela , Tacitus , Ptolemy , Procopius and Jordanes , usually in the form of Scandza . It is believed that the name used by Pliny may be of West Germanic origin, originally denoting Scania. According to some scholars, the Germanic stem can be reconstructed as * skaðan- , meaning "danger" or "damage". The second segment of the name has been reconstructed as * awjō , meaning "land on
13843-590: The region is varied, from the Norwegian fjords in the west and Scandinavian mountains covering parts of Norway and Sweden, to the low and flat areas of Denmark in the south, as well as archipelagos and lakes in the east. Most of the population in the region live in the more temperate southern regions, with the northern parts having long, cold winters. The region became notable during the Viking Age , when Scandinavian peoples participated in large-scale raiding, conquest, colonization and trading mostly throughout Europe. They also used their longships for exploration, becoming
13970-450: The reliance on family and market." According to Johan Strang, since the 1990s, politicians, researchers and the media have shifted to explaining the Nordic model with cultural rather than political factors. These cultural explanations benefit neoliberalism , whose rise this cultural phenomenon coincided with. By the 2010s, politics has been re-entering the conversation on the Nordic model. Some academics have theorized that Lutheranism ,
14097-400: The rest of the world with inequality, ill-health and needless poverty," economic anthropologist Jason Hickel sharply criticizes the "ecological disaster" that accompanies it, noting that data shows the Nordic countries "have some of the highest levels of resource use and CO2 emissions in the world, in consumption based terms, drastically overshooting safe planetary boundaries," and rank towards
14224-472: The rule of the Swedish king yet, as well as in Iceland where the Icelandic Commonwealth serves as an example of an unusually large and sophisticated peasant republic building on the same democratic traditions. Some historians have also argued that Gotland was a peasant republic before the attack by the Danes in 1361 . Central for the old Scandinavian democratic traditions was the assemblies called
14351-501: The same place. Pliny mentions Scandinavia one more time: in Book VIII he says that the animal called achlis (given in the accusative, achlin , which is not Latin) was born on the island of Scandinavia. The animal grazes, has a big upper lip and some mythical attributes. Nordic model Chronological history The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common in
14478-563: The same status at national level. Finland's majority population are Finns , whose mother tongue is either Finnish (approximately 95%), Swedish or both. The Swedish-speakers live mainly on the coastline starting from approximately the city of Porvoo (Sw: Borgå) (in the Gulf of Finland) up to the city of Kokkola (Sw: Karleby) (in the Bay of Bothnia). The Swedish-speaking population is spread out in pockets in this coastal stretch and constitutes approximately 5% of
14605-583: The same time frame, while still holding to the traditional foundations of the "social democratic compromise" that was specific to Western capitalism from 1945 to 1973. Norway was the Nordic country least willing to join the European Union . While Finland and Sweden suffered greatly from the 1990s recession, Norway began to earn enough revenue from their oil. As of 2007, the Norwegian state maintained large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, among them petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood and fresh water. The petroleum industry accounts for around
14732-441: The shareable parental leave (fathers use less than 30% of their paid parental-leave-days), foreign women are being subjected to under-representation, and Finland still holds a notable gender pay-gap; the average woman's salary is 83% of that of a man, not accounting for confounding factors such as career choice. The Nordic model has been successful at significantly reducing poverty. In 2011, poverty rates before taking into account
14859-434: The social democratic model, which is characterized by "a high level of decommodification and a low degree of stratification. Social policies are perceived as 'politics against the market.'" They summarized the social democratic model as being based on "the principle of universalism, granting access to benefits and services based on citizenship. Such a welfare state is said to provide a relatively high degree of autonomy, limiting
14986-406: The southernmost part of Sweden and along the west coast of Norway reaching north to 65°N, with orographic lift giving more mm/year precipitation (<5000 mm) in some areas in western Norway. The central part – from Oslo to Stockholm – has a humid continental climate (Dfb), which gradually gives way to subarctic climate (Dfc) further north and cool marine west coast climate (Cfc) along
15113-629: The southernmost province of Sweden) are both thought to go back to the Proto-Germanic compound * Skaðin-awjō (the ð represented in Latin by t or d ), which appears later in Old English as Scedenig and in Old Norse as Skáney . The earliest identified source for the name Scandinavia is Pliny the Elder 's Natural History , dated to the 1st century AD. Various references to
15240-617: The specifics of gender equality policies in regards to the work place vary from country to country, there is a widespread focus in Nordic countries to highlight "continuous full-time employment" for both men and women as well as single parents as they fully recognize that some of the most salient gender gaps arise from parenthood. Aside from receiving incentives to take shareable parental leave, Nordic families benefit from subsidized early childhood education and care and activities for out-of-school hours for those children that have enrolled in full-time education. The Nordic countries have been at
15367-491: The subject focuses on "historical specificity", with the centralized structure of the Lutheran church being but one aspect of the cultural values and state structures that led to the development of the welfare state in Scandinavia. The Nordic countries share active labour market policies as part of a social corporatist economic model intended to reduce conflict between labour and the interests of capital. This corporatist system
15494-480: The wage earner funds own predominant stakes in Swedish corporations on behalf of workers. This proposal was supported by Palme and the Social Democratic party leadership, but it did not garner enough support upon Palme's assassination and was defeated by the conservatives in the 1991 Swedish general election . Upon returning to power in 1982, the Social Democratic party inherited a slowing economy resulting from
15621-575: The water" or "island". The name Scandinavia would then mean "dangerous island", which is considered to refer to the treacherous sandbanks surrounding Scania. Skanör in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem ( skan ) combined with - ör , which means "sandbanks". Alternatively, Sca(n)dinavia and Skáney , along with the Old Norse goddess name Skaði , may be related to Proto-Germanic * skaðwa- (meaning "shadow"). John McKinnell comments that this etymology suggests that
15748-472: The way for the modern Finnish welfare state. During that process, the church lost some of its most important social responsibilities (health care, education, and social work) as these tasks were assumed by the secular Finnish state. Pauli Kettunen presents the Nordic model as the outcome of a sort of mythical "Lutheran peasant enlightenment", portraying the Nordic model as the result of a sort of "secularized Lutheranism"; however, mainstream academic discourse on
15875-459: The weakness of Social Democrats and the Left in general. Thirdly, the legislative process did not show a strong tendency towards consensus-building between government and opposition with regard to government seeking consultation or support for key legislation. Fourthly, the political style in legislative procedures and public debate in general tended to be adversarial rather than consensual in nature." In
16002-607: Was an island separated from the northern peninsula, with water exiting the Baltic Sea through the area where Stockholm is now located. The Latin names in Pliny's text gave rise to different forms in medieval Germanic texts. In Jordanes' history of the Goths (AD 551), the form Scandza is the name used for their original home, separated by sea from the land of Europe (chapter 1, 4). Where Jordanes meant to locate this quasi-legendary island
16129-457: Was weakened and no longer based on the social-democratic middle ground, as several social welfare policies were often permanently dismantled; however, Finland was hit even harder than Sweden. During the crisis, Finland looked to the European Union , which they were more committed and open to joining than Sweden and especially Norway, while Denmark had already joined the EU by the 1970s. Finland is, to date,
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