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The Nordic Welfare State and its Others - Immigration, Citizenship and Governance in Norway, Sweden and Denmark 1945-2005

Project No: 415.024
Project No: 415.024
Period: 2006 - 2008
Researchers:
Idunn Seland
Anniken Hagelund
Grete Brochmann
:
2007 Velferd og innvandrere. For mye, feil eller ikke nok?
Funding source:
Publications:
Bokanmeldelse av Bjørn Hvinden og Håkan Johansson (red.) ”Citi...
From rights to duties? Welfare and citizenship for immigrants...
Citizenship policies and ideas of nationhood in Scandinavia
From rights to duties? Welfare and citizenship for immigrants...

 INPUT { behavior:url(http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/fckeditor/editor/css/behaviors/hiddenfield.htc);} TABLE { behavior: url(http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/fckeditor/editor/css/behaviors/showtableborders.htc) ; }INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT, .FCK__Anchor, .FCK__PageBreak { behavior: url(http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/fckeditor/editor/css/behaviors/disablehandles.htc) ; }The Nordic welfare state is a notion which rings bells in international social research. It represents a particular type of welfare state characterised by universal access, generous benefits, a high degree of public involvement and comparatively high levels of redistribution. The combination of economic success and high levels of social justice has drawn considerable interest, even admiration, to the Nordic welfare states from the international research community. Far less attention has been devoted to the Nordic solutions to the challenges arising from international migration and increasing cultural and ethnic diversity. How do welfare states with such high ambitions and strong sense of egalitarianism as the Nordic ones cope with the pressures of immigration and the challenges to national unity presented by growing immigrant populations? And how can, on the other hand, immigration highlight strengths and weaknesses of the general welfare policy? This project aims to explore the historical development of the post-war welfare states in Norway, Sweden and Denmark from this particular angle. The three countries serve as interesting cases for comparison - in many ways representing a similar approach to welfare, at the same time revealing significant differences in terms of policies and outputs over time. The Scandinavian welfare states have developed as a dialectical project, shaped by and giving shape to central societal forces - first and foremost through the class compromise, later the gender issue, and now the significant challenge of ethnic diversity. This history of dealing with and incorporating conflicts and contradictions has so far - by and large - been summed up as a story of stabilisation and successful governance. The history of the last - multicultural - challenge has yet to be described and theorised, a task to which we in this project would like to contribute.

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