The meanings of the Nordic model have varied over time and in different contexts. The term was used to refer to the policies of the social democratic parties which dominated Scandinavia during the post-war era. From the late twentieth century it has been used as a marketing tool for branding the region as well as an academic term for economists and social scientists. The ‘Nordic model’ often refers to the comprehensive welfare state financed by high levels of taxation. But while the Nordic countries do share common political and economic features, there are also key differences, meaning it may be more accurate to talk about Nordic models in the plural. 

The Nigerian Civil War, spanning from 1967 to 1970, garnered signifcant global attention, especially due to the media's portrayal of suffering children in the seceding region of Biafra and the subsequent humanitarian response.

This booklet chronicles a seminar where journalists from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, who reported from Biafra, shared their experiences and perspectives on the confict and the humanitarian efforts aimed at alleviating the famine. The discussions captured in this document provide valuable insights into Nordic humanitarianism and its ethical dimensions, with relevance for contemporary global aid initiatives and the involvement of Nordic countries in international humanitarian cooperation.

I april 1974 föll den portugisiska diktaturen. Nejlikerevolutionen fick sitt namn av att folket firade friheten genom att sätta blommor i de revolutionära soldaternas gevärspipor. Kaptensrörelsen, MFA, ledde den fredliga revolutionen, medan de politiska partierna inledningsvis spelade en begränsad roll. Risken för ett bakslag för den sköra demokratin var påtaglig i ett Europa präglat av kalla krigets spänningar. Olof Palme och Socialistinternationalen stöttade det nyligen återupprättade portugisiska socialistpartiet, och den svenska socialdemokratiska arbetarrörelsen initierade ett omfattande stödprojekt, Portugalkampanjen. 

Här redogör Jan Olsson för sina efterforskningar och egna erfarenheter av denna relativt okända episod i den svenska arbetarrörelsens solidaritetsarbete. Texten har redigerats av Carl Marklund som även bidragit med ett förord.  

Jan Olsson (1943) har arbetat på Metall bl.a. som internationell sekreterare. Han har vidare verkat inom kooperationen med EU-frågor samt med flera europeiska uppdrag inom civilsamhälle och idéburen sektor. Hans intresseområden rör framförallt socialt företagande, arbetsmarknad, näringspolitik, regionalpolitik och lokal utveckling samt politiken i södra Europa och Latinamerika. 

Carl Marklund (1974) är verksam som forskare vid Samtidshistoriska institutet vid Södertörns högskola samt Jyväskyläs universitet. Hans forskning behandlar bl.a. samhällsplaneringens idéhistoria, Sverigebilden i utlandet samt småstaternas geopolitik, särskilt i Norden och Östersjöregionen.

This report examines the historical image of Sweden in the United States against the backdrop of recent debates on how Sweden is portrayed abroad. The Swedish–American relationship is important for Sweden – culturally, economically, and politically. This is highly relevant given current security concerns and Sweden’s recent NATO application.

The USA is also a key arena for the global dissemination of perceptions about Sweden, which is critical in today’s increasingly polarized media landscape. The report does not aim to present a comprehensive overview of the entirety of American image of Sweden but focuses on events and occasions where attention to Sweden and Swedish affairs has both quantitatively intensified and qualitatively changed. 

This article examines the intertwined circulation of multiple kinds of Nordic models. We seek to understand how modelization of the region occurred at multiple levels and in disparate fields, in other words how different aspects of Nordic policies and politics came to be understood as worthy of interest and at times of emulation. In doing so, we aim to contribute to the critical scholarship on the Nordic model concept, exploring how it has been changed and contested over time, the contexts in which it circulates and why it has generated interest. Methodologically, we use digital tools to analyse scholarly literature in different disciplines published between 1965 and 2019. In focusing on intellectual constructions of the Nordic model, we locate academia as a crucial field for the development of the Nordic model concept, but one that is in communication with and integrates typologies developed in other fields. Following a brief discussion of the model concept, we assess intensifications and critical junctures in the modelization of the Nordics through wordclouds. Second, we demonstrate the variety of such modelizations through case studies. Third, we conclude by pointing to the rhetorical and heuristic effects of such modelizations.

Since the 2010s, it has become common to view the European project as troubled by crisis. As the EU historical narrative is selective, the problems that we perceive today in the EU seem to be exceptional and unusually dangerous, not the least from the perspective of Europe’s peripheries. In order to assess the current challenges and future prospects of the European project, we need to understand better the complexities of European integration in Southern and Northern Europe in the recent past. 

By bringing together three relevant political actors, deeply involved in these historical events – Esko Aho (Finland), Mats Hellström (Sweden) and Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo (Spain) – this witness seminar provides important insights into the negotiations concerning EC/EU integration as well as the similarities and differences between the Northern and Southern European experiences.