Changing politics, policies and legal framework: Comparing Denmark, Norway and Sweden

• In Event: What happened to the Scandinavian, social-democratic welfare model?

Abstract

This paper analyses the national context for municipal welfare services – primary and lower secondary education, and institution-based elderly care – in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The aim is to shed light on the national framework within which local welfare services are provided, and whether differences in national politics and policies can explain the observed differences in the national ‘welfare mix’ of public, non-profit and for-profit services.

In the literature on ‘welfare regimes’, there is considerable agreement that the three countries can be placed within the ‘Scandinavian welfare model’. This points to several similarities: Welfare services are, to a great extent, publicly financed and based on universal rights, and the municipalities play a crucial role in the implementation of these services. Many features of the Scandinavian welfare states are similar – and different from other countries – in an international perspective. Nevertheless, there are also considerable differences between the Scandinavian countries.

The paper aims to explore the differences and similarities between the three countries – within both education and elderly care. We use three governance models as a framework for analysis and comparison of the national policies. We make a distinction between 1) Direct government 2) Indirect government and 3) Disconnected government.

First, we describe The EU Public Procurement Directive and discuss its implementation at the national level in each country. This directive is an important backdrop for national policies on the use of non-public actors in the production of welfare services, when these services are produced on the basis of contracts between municipalities and providers. This applies to the EU member states Denmark and Sweden, as well as the EEA (European Economic Area) member Norway.

Second, we explore whether national policies can explain the variation in ‘welfare mix’. Within each country, national policy standards are set by means of various policy documents (legislation, instructions, guidelines etc.). These documents direct how contracts are awarded within municipal welfare services such as education and elderly care.

In the concluding section, we sum up our findings and discuss underlying factors that may explain national policies as well as welfare mix, related to the national political situation and the national political discourse. Here, we discuss the national political situation in the three countries,as well as the importance of national historical traditions.

Authors

• Signe Bock Segaard, Institute for Social Research

• Jo Saglie, Institute for Social Research