The Changing Meanings of the Welfare State: Histories of a Key Concept in the Nordic Countries

For some people, primarily those on the political right, welfare state is a term that turns their stomach; it means virtually the same as that other horrifying concept, socialism, which for them implies an all-encompassing state that stifles individual freedom. For others, chiefly on the left of the political spectrum, welfare state may not be a synonym for utopia, but it represents a great accomplishment of solidarity and social justice. However, in one region in the world, the Nordic countries (comprising Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland), this political bifurcation in the political-normative evaluation of the welfare-state concept has largely ceased to exist. Nordic Europe evinces a broad, nearly spectrum-wide, political consensus around the positive meaning and importance of the welfare state. Some parts of the welfare state, especially health care, elderly care, and education, have acquired the status of what political scientists call “valence issues,” that is, political...