This project studies changes in Nordic political culture during “the long 1990s” under the premise and hypothesis of a Neoliberalisation of Nordic Democracy. The Nordic countries have a long history of being celebrated as models of democracy and they continue to be so today. This project builds on the observation that the nature and characteristics of the “democracy” championed by the Nordics has changed. No longer distinctively connected to national and popular sovereignty, public participation, social equality, or labour market arrangements, Nordic democratic exemplarity is increasingly associated, rather, with rule of law, human rights, and political as well as economic liberty. This project wants to examine how this redefinition of Nordic democracy took place through the prism of neoliberalisation. We examine transformations in legal-political thinking, in civil society arrangements, and in the role of ideology and knowledge production.

2022

2026