This fully revised and updated second edition of Scandinavian politics today describes, analyses and compares the contemporary politics and international relations of the five nation-states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and the three Home Rule territories of Greenland, Faeroes and Åland that together make up the Nordic region.
Thirteen chapters cover Scandinavia past and present; parties in developmental perspective; the Scandinavian party system model; the Nordic model of government; the Nordic welfare model; legislative-executive relations in the region; the changing security environment and the transition from Cold War ‘security threats’ to the ‘security challenges’ of today; and a concluding chapter looks at regional co-operation, Nordic involvement in the ‘European project’ and the Nordic states as ‘moral superpowers’.
The book will be of interest not only to students of Scandinavia but to those wishing to view Scandinavian politics and policy-making in a wider comparative perspective.
Table of Content
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Preface
Part I: Scandinavia past and present
1. The eight wings of the swan
2. Nation-building and state-building, 1809–1944
Part II: Parties in development perspective
3. The emergence of the Scandinavisn party system(s)
4. The historic strengths of the five main types of party
Part III: Parties, voters and social change: w(h)ither the Scandinavian party system model?
5. ‘Earthquake elections’ of 1970-73 and the Emergence of New Party Types
6. Party system change since 1970
Part IV: The Nordic model
7. A Nordic model of government?
8. The Nordic welfare model
Part V: Legislative–executive relations in the Nordic region
9. The Nordic Parliaments: An Alternative Model?
10. ‘Fairly Strong Standing Committees’ and ‘Influential Party Groups’ – a Distinctively Nordic Mix?
11. Nordic Government(s): Parliamentary, Presidential or Prime Ministerial?
Part VI: The strategic security environment
12. The Changing Security Environment of the Nordic Region: From Cold War ‘Security Threats’ to the ‘Security Challenges’ of Today
13. ‘Reluctant Nordics’, ‘Reluctant Europeans’, but ‘Moral Superpowers’?
Index
About the author
Bill Jones is a Research Fellow in the Department of Government at the University of Manchester and is a former Director of Extra-Mural Studies at the University of Manchester
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