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.

"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.