[{"_id":"project:1718","_type":"project","abstract":{"en":"In an international comparison, the democracies of Sweden and Finland appear to be unusually stable political cultures. However, this stability has not come into existence from nothing and is not guaranteed to last forever. There is today an evident need in society for deepened knowledge about under which circumstances they have emerged and how they have managed to renew themselves under the challenges of time. Our project aspires to meet this need by opening new perspectives on the emergence, development and challenges of democratic decision making in Sweden and Finland 1890-2020.  The democracies of the Nordic countries have developed in a dynamic force field between three driving forces: 1) national political cultures, 2) geopolitical shifts and 3) the development of the world economy, which has been driven by technological revolutions and changes in the industrial division of labor.  We are striving to investigate how the political cultures in Sweden and Finland have been formed in interaction with these international and transnational driving forces, which has to a large extent contributed to how democratic decision making has taken root and developed. In order to achieve this we will focus on the countries’ civil societies, social movements as well as important individual actors.  It is possible to discern three phases in the development of the driving forces of democracy. These phases are studied by separate subprojects, located at universities in Sweden and Finland.  Subproject 1 is located at Jyväskylä University and examines the influence of administrative traditions, geopolitics and market forces upon the countries’ political cultures and democratic development 1890-1930.  Subproject 2 is located at Helsinki University and analyses the Golden Age of the nation state 1930-1980 from the viewpoints: the forest industry’s political influence, a cross-section analysis of the year 1968 and the role of government controlled broadcasting in creating uniform cultures.  Subproject 3 is located at Södertörn University and focuses primarily on the period 1980-2020. It investigates the role of the parties in political mobilization, the countries’ educational policies, the ideology and practice of gender equality with a special focus upon the equal opportunities ombudsman and the influence of the debate about plan- and market economy upon democracy."},"keywords":{"sv":"Östersjö- och Östeuropaforskning","en":"Baltic and East European studies"},"project_id":"40/2014_OSS","identifier_short":"40/2014","local_ids":{"sh":["2198/3.1.1/2014"]},"dates":{"start_date":"2015-01-01","end_date":"2017-12-31"},"organizations":[{"funding":[{"_id":7,"id":"802400-4155","sv":"Östersjöstiftelsen","en":"The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies"}]},{"coordinating":[{"_id":481,"id":"202100-4896","sv":"Södertörns högskola","en":"Södertörn University"}]}],"people":[{"project_leaders":[{"_id":"authority-person:103","name":"Östberg, Kjell","role":"principal_investigator","affiliation":[{"_id":11846,"sv":"Samtidshistoriska institutet","en":"Institute of Contemporary History","parent":[{"_id":11802,"sv":"Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier","en":"School of Historical and Contemporary Studies","parent":[{"_id":481,"sv":"Södertörns högskola","en":"Södertörn University"}]}]}]}]},{"other_personnel":[{"_id":"authority-person:459","orcid":"0000-0001-5419-0688","name":"Blomberg, Eva","role":"co_investigator","affiliation":[{"_id":11803,"sv":"Historia","en":"History","parent":[{"_id":11802,"sv":"Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier","en":"School of Historical and Contemporary Studies","parent":[{"_id":481,"sv":"Södertörns högskola","en":"Södertörn University"}]}]}]},{"_id":"authority-person:446","orcid":"0000-0003-2449-4888","name":"Holmén, Janne","role":"co_investigator","affiliation":[{"_id":11846,"sv":"Samtidshistoriska institutet","en":"Institute of Contemporary History","parent":[{"_id":11802,"sv":"Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier","en":"School of Historical and Contemporary Studies","parent":[{"_id":481,"sv":"Södertörns högskola","en":"Södertörn University"}]}]}]},{"_id":"authority-person:87","orcid":"0000-0001-7766-9536","name":"Nilsson, Torbjörn","role":"co_investigator","affiliation":[{"_id":11846,"sv":"Samtidshistoriska institutet","en":"Institute of Contemporary History","parent":[{"_id":11802,"sv":"Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier","en":"School of Historical and Contemporary Studies","parent":[{"_id":481,"sv":"Södertörns högskola","en":"Södertörn University"}]}]}]}]}],"tags":[{"_id":11774,"id":"60101","sv":"Historia","en":"History"}],"titles":{"sv":"Demokratins drivkrafter. Kontext och särdrag i Finlands och Sveriges demokratier 1890-2020","en":"Driving forces of democracy. Context and characteristics in the democratization of Finland and Sweden 1890-2020"},"total_funding":"9272700","type_of_awards":{"sv":"Projektbidrag","en":"Project grant"},"publications":[{"id":"diva2:1622869","type":"chapter","issued":{"date-parts":[[2021]]},"title":"Always in crisis, always a solution? : The Nordic model as a political and scholarly concept","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Koivunen","given":"Anu"},{"family":"Ojala","given":"Jari"},{"family":"Holmén","given":"Janne","ORCID":"0000-0003-2449-4888","localId":"jahol226","affiliation":[{"id":"7651","name":"Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik, didaktik och utbildningsstudier"},{"name":"Samtidshistoriska institutet, Södertörns högskola"}]}],"abstract":"This chapter analyses the Nordic model as an empirical, policy-based phenomenon and as a political idea and a trope for the imagination through the lenses of social scientists and historians. The emergence and development of the Nordic model as a concept in international discussion can be roughly outlined by a quantitative bibliometric analysis using Google Books Ngrams. The notion of a distinctive Nordic social model began to attract international attention during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The prime minister of Denmark, Anker Jørgensen, answered by defining the common core of the Nordic model as democracy, welfare state, peace, solidarity with the Third World and, despite the differences between the Nordic countries, a strong cultural affiliation. In the Nordic context, scholarship on the Nordic model is a vast and lively field – impossible to subsume in a way that accurately mirrors its diversity and complexity.","ISBN":"9780367724405","DOI":"10.4324/9780429026690-1","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-462532","page":"1-19","container-title":"The Nordic Economic, Social and Political Model : Challenges in the 21st Century","keyword":"Nordic model","publisher-place":"Abingdon; New York","publisher":"Routledge","note":"[ed] Anu Koivunen; Jari Ojala; Janne Holmén","published":[{"raw":"2021-12-25T08:43:00.000+01:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2021-12-25T08:43:12.528+01:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-04-10T09:53:36.096+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-462532"},{"id":"diva2:1593507","type":"chapter","issued":{"date-parts":[[2021]]},"title":"Conservatives at the Crossroads : Cooperating or resisting extremism and populism?","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Nilsson","given":"Torbjörn","ORCID":"0000-0001-7766-9536","localId":"shtnnn","affiliation":[{"id":"11846","name":"Södertörns högskola, Samtidshistoriska institutet"}]}],"ISBN":"9780367134754","DOI":"10.4324/9780429026690-7","ScopusId":"2-s2.0-85109614426","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-46388","page":"138-152","container-title":"The Nordic Economic, Social and Political Model : Challenges in the 21st Century","keyword":"Populism; conservatism; ideologies","publisher-place":"London & New York","publisher":"Routledge","note":"[ed] Anu Koivunen; Jari Ojala; Janne Holmén","published":[{"raw":"2021-09-13T11:17:00.000+02:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2021-09-13T11:17:42.311+02:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-07T18:46:50.602+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-46388"},{"id":"diva2:1599598","type":"chapter","issued":{"date-parts":[[2021]]},"title":"The decline of Nordic social democracy","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Östberg","given":"Kjell","localId":"SHKLOG","affiliation":[{"id":"11846","name":"Södertörns högskola, Samtidshistoriska institutet"}]}],"abstract":"Social democracy has generally been considered one of the most successful political forces of the 1900s. The Nordic model, building on the institutionalized, corporatist collaboration between capital, labour and state and long extolled as a successful compromise between a communist planned economy and free market capitalism, has close links to Nordic social democracy. The organizational home of Nordic social democracy has been the Social Democratic parties; working-class dominated mass parties with deep roots in trade unions and popular movements. In the mid-20th century, to follow the political thread, social democracy formulated an objective that found more mass support than any other leftist idea: to offer citizens protection against the inequalities created by an unregulated market. The broad definition of social democracy is, meanwhile, used in an attempt to single out some central features of a common reformist ideology that Social Democrats tried to translate into political action.","ISBN":"9780367134754","DOI":"10.4324/9780429026690-6","ScopusId":"2-s2.0-85109658655","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-46520","page":"124-137","container-title":"The Nordic Economic, Social and Political Model : Challenges in the 21st Century","publisher-place":"London","publisher":"Routledge","note":"[ed] Anu Koivunen; Jari Ojala; Janne Holmén","published":[{"raw":"2021-10-01T12:50:00.000+02:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2021-10-01T12:50:57.416+02:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-07T18:43:46.359+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-46520"},{"id":"diva2:1509426","type":"book","issued":{"date-parts":[[2020]]},"title":"Nordic Models for a Democratic School : Educational Reform and Political Culture in Sweden and Finland 1960–2020","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Holmén","given":"Janne","ORCID":"0000-0003-2449-4888","localId":"shjehn08","affiliation":[{"id":"11846","name":"Södertörns högskola, Samtidshistoriska institutet"}]}],"abstract":"\"Nordic Models for a Democratic School\" analyzes the efforts to create a democratic and equal society by the means of educational reform in Sweden and Finland 1960–2020, based on official print and earlier research. Of special concern is how the inherent contradiction between democracy and rule of law – the principle of the Rechtsstaat – has affected the development. For historical and geopolitical reasons, the balance between these principles has been different in Sweden and Finland. Swedish democratic development has been society-oriented rather than individual-oriented, without any real counterweight against the popularly elected politicians’ influence over society, including the school system. In Finland, the powers of government have been limited by the mechanisms of the Rechtsstaat, with a decentralized state and more independent civil servants, including teachers. These differences in political culture have profoundly influenced the realm of education. Sweden has experienced continuous reforms, gives priority to democracy in the value bas of curricula, and emphasizes the schools function as a transmitter of values. Finland has experienced rare but revolutionary bursts of reforms, emphasizes human rights in the value base of curricula, and gives priority to the school’s role as a transmitter of knowledge.","ISBN":"9798561950193","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-42927","number-of-pages":"43","publisher":"Independently published","note":"Baserad på det svenska originalet: Holmén, J., 2018: ”Den demokratiska skolan. Om likvärdighet och delaktighet 1960–2020” i Meinander, Henrik, Petri Karonen och Kjell Östberg (ed.): Demokratins drivkrafter. Kontext och särdrag i Finlands och Sveriges demokratier 1890–2020, Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet, 257–294.","published":[{"raw":"2020-12-14T09:03:38.190+01:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2020-12-14T09:03:38.277+01:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-07T19:39:40.072+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-42927"},{"id":"diva2:1509403","type":"book","issued":{"date-parts":[[2020]]},"title":"Nordic Models for a Democratic School : Educational Reform and Political Culture in Sweden and Finland 1960–2020","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Holmén","given":"Janne","ORCID":"0000-0003-2449-4888","localId":"jahol226","affiliation":[{"id":"7651","name":"Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik, didaktik och utbildningsstudier"}]}],"abstract":"\"Nordic Models for a Democratic School\" analyzes the efforts to create a democratic and equal society by the means of educational reform in Sweden and Finland 1960–2020, based on official print and earlier research. Of special concern is how the inherent contradiction between democracy and rule of law – the principle of the Rechtsstaat – has affected the development. For historical and geopolitical reasons, the balance between these principles has been different in Sweden and Finland. Swedish democratic development has been society-oriented rather than individual-oriented, without any real counterweight against the popularly elected politicians’ influence over society, including the school system. In Finland, the powers of government have been limited by the mechanisms of the Rechtsstaat, with a decentralized state and more independent civil servants, including teachers. These differences in political culture have profoundly influenced the realm of education. Sweden has experienced continuous reforms, gives priority to democracy in the value bas of curricula, and emphasizes the schools function as a transmitter of values. Finland has experienced rare but revolutionary bursts of reforms, emphasizes human rights in the value base of curricula, and gives priority to the school’s role as a transmitter of knowledge.","ISBN":"979-85-61950-19-3","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-428283","number-of-pages":"36","publisher-place":"Uppsala","publisher":"Independently published","note":"Baserad på det svenska originalet: Holmén, J., 2018: ”Den demokratiska skolan. Om likvärdighet och delaktighet 1960–2020” i Meinander, Henrik, Petri Karonen och Kjell Östberg (ed.): Demokratins drivkrafter. Kontext och särdrag i Finlands och Sveriges demokratier 1890–2020, Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet, 257–294. ","published":[{"raw":"2020-12-13T23:31:00.000+01:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2020-12-13T23:31:04.692+01:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-30T14:29:38.351+01:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-428283"},{"id":"diva2:1384418","type":"chapter","issued":{"date-parts":[[2018]]},"title":"Att söka rättvisa : könsdiskriminering och jämställdhet i Finland och Sverige","language":"swe","author":[{"family":"Blomberg","given":"Eva","ORCID":"0000-0001-5419-0688","localId":"sheabg08","affiliation":[{"id":"11803","name":"Södertörns högskola, Historia"}]}],"ISBN":"9789198406412","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-39768","page":"325-358","container-title":"Demokratins drivkrafter : kontext och särdrag i Sveriges och Finlands demokratier 1890–2020","publisher-place":"Stockholm","publisher":"Appell förlag","note":"[ed] Henrik Meinander, Petri Karonen & Kjell Östberg","published":[{"raw":"2020-01-09T17:13:00.000+01:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2020-01-09T17:13:17.848+01:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-07T20:20:47.817+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-39768"},{"id":"diva2:1384285","type":"book","issued":{"date-parts":[[2018]]},"title":"Demokratins drivkrafter : kontext och särdrag i Sveriges och Finlands demokratier 1890–2020","language":"eng","editor":[{"family":"Meinander","given":"Henrik","affiliation":[{"name":"Helsingfors universitet, Helsingfors, Finland"}]},{"family":"Karonen","given":"Petri","affiliation":[{"name":"Jyväskylä universitet, Jyväskylä, Finland"}]},{"family":"Östberg","given":"Kjell","localId":"SHKLOG","affiliation":[{"id":"11846","name":"Södertörns högskola, Samtidshistoriska institutet"}]}],"ISBN":"9789198406412","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-39760","number-of-pages":"500","keyword":"Demokrati; Sverige; Finland","publisher-place":"Stockholm","publisher":"Appell förlag","note":"Meinander, H. Karonen, P. &amp; Östberg, K. (red.) (2018). <i>Kansanvallan polkuja: demokratian kehityspiirteitä Suomessa ja Ruotsissa 1800-luvun lopulta 2020-luvulle</i>. (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia ; 1438) Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. ISBN: 9789522229335","published":[{"raw":"2020-01-09T15:26:01.070+01:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2020-01-09T15:26:01.155+01:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-07T20:20:56.465+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-39760"},{"id":"diva2:1384213","type":"chapter","issued":{"date-parts":[[2018]]},"title":"När ingen längre kokar kaffe – eller vad har hänt med folkrörelsepartierna?","language":"swe","author":[{"family":"Östberg","given":"Kjell","localId":"SHKLOG","affiliation":[{"id":"11846","name":"Södertörns högskola, Samtidshistoriska institutet"}]}],"ISBN":"9789198406412","NBN":"urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-39753","page":"391-422","container-title":"Demokratins drivkrafter : kontext och särdrag i Sveriges och Finlands demokratier 1890–2020","keyword":"Demokrati; folkrörelser; socialdemokrati","publisher-place":"Stockholm","publisher":"Appell förlag","note":"[ed] Henrik Meinander, Petri Karonen & Kjell Östberg","published":[{"raw":"2020-01-09T14:24:00.000+01:00"}],"created":[{"raw":"2020-01-09T14:24:32.402+01:00"}],"updated":[{"raw":"2025-10-07T20:21:01.885+02:00"}],"URL":"https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-39753"}],"links":[{"type":"pid","link":"https://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/api/project/swecris/project:1718"}]}]