Europe at Present [Spring 2003]

The Scandinavian Nations

The Links. The Split. Egalitarian Approach.

Instead of the introduction-part we would like to enumerate in twenty points the most characteristic features of the Scandinavians. We consider it the best way to summarize and gather all pieces of information that we came across while preparing the paper. What is more it is a good way to find out if it is high time to leave Scandinavia. Because you know you have been there too long when:

1. You pass a grocery store and think “Wow, it is open; I had better go in and buy something!”

2. You start to think that having a sauna in the nude with a bunch of strangers is a necessary part of daily life ... and a necessary part of business.

3. Your old habit of being “fashionably late” is no longer acceptable. You are always on time.

4. You hear loud-talking passengers on the train. You immediately assume:

a: they are drunk

b: they are Finnish

c: they are American

d: they are Turks

e: all of the above

5. You get extremely annoyed when the bus is two minutes late.

6. You think women are more than equal than men and deserve to have better positions in the work place.

7. Your wife watches TV while you look after the kids.

8. Silence is fun.

9. You start to differentiate between types of snow!

10. You think it entirely reasonable to pay $40 for a five minute chat with the doctor.

11. You think it is normal everything is regulated and you obey the rules voluntarily.

12. You mutter “oy,oy,oy” continually to yourself even though you are the only one in the room.

13. When someone asks you for “sex” you assume they mean half-a-dozen.

14. You expect to find the glove you dropped in February hanging on a post in June

15. “It’s 20 degrees outside” does not necessarily mean plus 20, it could mean minus 20.

16. You pay the TV-license because you think you’re getting your money’s worth watching SVT.

17. You take two hour naps at work and the idea of losing your job never crosses your mind.

18. You think nothing of spending all day at IKEA looking for a piece of furniture and then spending the whole next day putting it together!

19. You can’t throw a plastic bottle away with out having a guilty conscience

20. You find that you can’t spell in English anymore. You now replace C with K. Like panik, automatik, seasik, arithmatik.... and you try to remember does papper/paper have one or two p’s in English?

That is how it looks like in a nutshell. Now let’s move to the next part of our papper (ups!) of course: paper, which is…

Nordic history comprises more than 10,000 years and starts after the last glacial period. After the melting of the inland ice, the climate became warmer, and settlers seem to have arrived to the northern parts of the Europe from the east as well as from the south. They lived from hunting, fishing and collecting. To make a long story short, agriculture was introduced during the Stone Age, and there was a subsequent Bronze Age followed by an Iron Age (500 B.C. – 800 A.D.).

The first time Scandinavia was mentioned in written documents was 79 A.C. by the Roman citizen Plinius Senior. He was a civil servant in the Roman Empire. He writes in his paper “Naturalis Historia” about an Island in the north called Scandinavia, populated by people living in 500 villages scattered over the island. He also mentions that the land of “svionerna” is at the end of the world and that the people there can see the horses that pulled the cart by which the sun was taken across the sky.

Perhaps the best known period of Nordic history (internationally), is the time of the Vikings which starts at the beginning of the 10^th century. This era marks the termination of the prehistoric period in the region. There were still hardly any written sources of knowledge, and what is known about this period is largely based on archaeological remains. Nevertheless, the Sagas shed some light on these times. Although they were written down later, the Sagas were based on word of mouth tales passed down from one generation to the next. Despite this they reveal that the Viking Age must without comparison have been the richest of all the prehistoric periods in the north.

The stereotype Viking is a tall ginger haired figure with bushy beard possessed with a raging fury which he releases upon other countries. Surprising though it may sound, the Vikings have never worn even the tiniest little horns in their helmets. Viking helmets did sometimes have neat figures and all kinds of decorations, but not horns.

Although this period was short (900 A.D. – 10500 A.D.) compared to the rest of the long history of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, it is one of the most widely known. Foreigners have never stopped wondering about and being fascinated by the Vikings. They have been called the Giants from the North, “heathens”, “savages”, “the first knights” and so on. They have been described as barbarians who from birth were taught how to fight well (and encouraged by their religion to do it).

This is what an anonymous author described the Viking’s attack: “The same year the heathens arrived from the north to Brittany with a fleet of ships. They were like stinging wasps, and they spread in all directions like horrible wolves, wrecking, robbing, shattering and killing not only animals but also priests, monks and nuns. They came to the church of Lindesfarne, slayed everything alive, dug up the altars and took all the treasures of the holy church”. The attack came as a shock to the rulers of Brittany and the rumors about the fearless Nordic men spread over Europe.

The Swear Vikings (from Sweden) founded kingdoms in Russia and built trade stations along the rivers all the way down to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They went to Constantinople and Baghdad, they even came into contact with Byzantium and they formed a feared elite regiment for the East Roman Emperor, a guard which existed for some hundred years. The Danes conquered London, besieged Lisbon, burnt Santiago, assaulted Seville, attacked Mallorca, and sold European slaves in North Africa. They terrorized Paris (on numerous occasions) and burnt Hamburg and many other German cities. They even went to Jerusalem and possibly also to Alexandria. The Norwegians, however, traveled to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Irland and Scotland. Like the Danes they kept trade contacts with the cities of the Mediterranean Sea.

Their activities left traces for eternity. Over 900 of the most common English words come from the Vikings (sky, skin, scrape, skirt, husband and window are some examples). In Russia, which was founded by the people from Rus (the Swedish Roslagen County), millions of people still hold the name Oleg, Olga and Igor – from the names of the Viking gods Helge, Helga and Ingvar. When Russians politely address each other as “gentlemen”, the word comes from the Viking word “husbonden”. For their many expeditions the Vikings needed fast and seaworthy ships, and men with the skill to navigate them over open seas. Many believe that these courageous men repeatedly voyaged to America and back. The Sagas relate that it was Leif Eriksson who discovered “Wineland the Good” in the year 1001, but present day archeologists claim that it is possible that other Vikings had reached America before him. The Viking Age culminated in 1066 when the Norwegian King Harald Hardruler and his men were defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England.

Christianity was introduced into Norway, as well as in other Nordic countries, over a lengthy period of time, possibly two hundred years. It was a natural result of the Norwegians’ contact with Christian Europe, through trading connections and Viking raids. Missions from the churches of England and Germany had also contributed to a weakening of traditional belief in the Nordic gods. From the middle of the 11th century the legislation that was enacted, the songs that were sung, and the monuments that were erected demonstrated the firm establishment of Christianity.

From the Viking Age onwards, the Nordics have fought each other, formed unions with each other and ruled over each other. Sweden ruled over Finland for over 600 years, Denmark ruled over southern Sweden also for over 600 years (or, alternatively, Sweden has ruled over eastern Denmark for the past 300 years) and over Norway for nearly 500 years, while Iceland was ruled from Norway for some 200 years and then from Denmark yet another 500 years, and the list goes on (but Finland hasn't ruled over anybody, and is very envious because of that). Unavoidably, this has caused some anti-pathies, but it has also made the Nordic cultures more uniform.

Plots, counter plots and assassinations within the monarchies marked the medieval period of the region. By the late 14th century, upstart dynasties intermarried, eventually forming the Kalmar Union. It was a union of three Nordic kingdoms formed in 1389, when Queen Margrete – already regent in Norway and Denmark – was elected regent in Sweden. The entity was referred to as the Kalmar Union because Margrete's grand nephew, Erik of Pomerania, was soon crowned king of Norway at Kalmar. The union treaty stated that the countries were to act as a single kingdom vis-à-vis other countries and states and assists one another in the event of war. The union functioned in practice up to 1521, when Gustavus Vasa was elected king of Sweden. Norway, however, was to remain under Danish rule for another three centuries.

In the 16th century the Reformation swept through the region, leaving burnt churches and civil warfare in its wake. The fighting ended in 1536 with the ousting of the powerful Catholic Church and the establishment of a Danish Lutheran church headed by the monarchy.

The question of Yes or No to the Nordic union became relevant when Gustavus Vasa was elected king of Sweden, because the owners of large tracts of land in Sweden and Norway disliked the union.

At this period of history, Denmark was the largest and richest of the Nordic countries. The Norwegian and Swedish landowners – along with the German members of the Hanseatic League – were of the opinion that Denmark dominated the decision-making process. This period also marks the emergence of Sweden as a major power, when King Gustavus Vasa proved capable of exploiting the discontent amongst the landowners. The Nordic region was split. Sweden and Finland formed one alliance, while Demark, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands formed a counter alliance. The Great Nordic War in the early part of the 18th century brought an end to Sweden's period as a major power. The main events in the remaining years of the 18th century are the Enlightenment and the start of the Industrial Revolution.

The French Revolution in 1789 changes the face of Europe. The Nordic countries increase their exports of timber, grain and tar to war-torn Europe – at good prices. In 1807, two of Europe's most powerful men met: Czar Alexander of Russia and Emperor Napoleon of France. They agreed to cut off England from the rest of Europe, and from the Nordic countries. The Faroese, Greenlanders and Icelanders had good trading connections with England so the embargo led to new wars, higher prices, bank crises, bankruptcies and starvation in Norway.

Russia attacked and occupied Finland. The Czar became Grand Duke of Finland following a meeting of the parliamentary assembly at Borgĺ in 1809. Russia guaranteed Finland's security, and the Finns retained their legislative powers, on condition that they accepted Alexander as their sovereign. Sweden's defeat led to a change of course in Swedish politics, and parliament was granted more extensive powers. Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, a Frenchman, better known as Karl Johan, was elected crown prince and later (1810) king of Sweden. During his reign, Sweden joined forces with England in waging war against the French and the Danish-Norwegian union. France and Denmark lost, and Frederik VI, king of Denmark, was forced to cede Norway to Sweden (the Peace of Kiel). But King Frederik VI appointed Kristian Frederik vice-regent, and later the Norwegians elected him king of Norway. For a short period in 1814, Norway was independent, with its own king, Kristian Frederik. A new constitution was adopted on 17th May at Eidsvoll and today it is the National Day of celebration in Norway. Norway a free and independent nation, after having been a part of the Danish autocracy for 400 years, was joined into a loose union with Sweden. The Norwegian constitution was the most modern in Europe at the time but was rejected by Karl Johan. Sweden attacked and won the war against Norway. Karl Johan became king of the new union between Sweden and Norway, which lasted until 1905.

King Karl Johan had a government in Stockholm, and another in Oslo to govern Norway. The countries were united under one king – a form of union also referred to as “a personal union”. Moreover, in the 19th century Norwegians felt a growing desire to achieve independence. Freedom to conduct trade was introduced in the 1840s, and in 1848 – the year of the revolution in European history – new perspectives emerged, finally leading to the introduction of parliamentarism in 1884. But foreign policy was not a matter for decision by parliament, and for Norway – as a seafaring nation which maintained cultural links with England – this posed serious problems. In 1905, the system suffered a total collapse. The Norwegian government resigned, and the king failed to persuade other Norwegians to serve as ministers. The outcome was that the parliament had to inform the king that he no longer serve as Norway's monarch. Some Swedes wanted to resort to military intervention but in negotiations at Karlstad it was agreed that Norway should become independent and have its own king. The choice fell upon Haakon VII, a Dane.

Towards the end of the 19th century, trade increased as a result of the developments in railway traffic and shipping. With a view to facilitating trade, it was decided to introduce a Nordic currency in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The governments decided to use a common unit of currency – the krone – applying the decimal system.

When the union with Sweden was dissolved Norway was enjoying a period of economic growth, which lasted right up to I World War in 1914. During WWI Norway remained neutral, but the Norwegian merchant fleet suffered heavy losses on account of the submarine war.

Neutral in WWI, Denmark reaffirmed its neutrality at the outbreak of WWII; but, on 9 April 1940, with German warplanes flying over Copenhagen, Denmark surrendered to Germany. Also Norway's declaration of neutrality was of little significance. German forces attacked Norway, which after a two-month struggle was subdued, despite some military assistance from Great Britain and France. The royal family and the government left for Great Britain. During the war the Norwegian government carried out its work in exile.

In 1946 the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian ministers of justice decided to appoint a committee to draw up proposals on co-operation in the future on legislation in the Nordic region. On February 1953, the Nordic Council became a reality. Finland joined the council in 1956. The formation of the council made it possible for Nordic parliamentarians to play a larger role in the process of developing co-operation on legislation.

Let’s stop here with this short overview of the history of the Scandinavian region. The next point is…

III. EGALITARISM

In sociological theory as well as in empirical research, values and norms have been and still are a major topic. In this part of the paper, we would like to focus on an area of values, which is surely among the most important for the political and social organization of societies: attitudes towards inequality and distribution. The issue of egalitarism – that is our aim. But firstly, let’s check in the encyclopedia what it is?

The Scandinavian welfare model is often used as a general term for the way in which Denmark, Sweden and Norway have chosen to organize and finance their social security systems, health services and education. The Scandinavian countries are clearly distinguished from other European countries in these areas.

In many respects Scandinavian region is a land of relatively small class differences. Many people even consider the very concept of social class outdated, since it has become notoriously hard to define. A Nordic manual worker may well earn as much as a lower official, and his children can choose to study at the same university as those of the company president. All in all, the principle of equal opportunity has had a strong position in Scandinavian society, much due to the long predominance of the Social Democratic Party in Swedish political life. Some even think this principle has gone to far, limiting pluralism and individual freedom on the legal as well the personal level.

Norway is a rich and smoothly functioning society where few people fall outside the safety net of national insurance and pension schemes when they find they are unable to provide for themselves. Workers have their rights in the workplace that many people in other countries no doubt envy, with respect to protection against dismissal, the opportunity to take care of children and the opportunity to divide the workload between men and women.

In practical terms there is also a true cradle-to-the-grave welfare state in Sweden as well. Services are provided to everyone not because they are poor, but because they are human. So a pregnant mother would be provided with excellent prenatal care and be given extremely generous maternity leave (and nowadays, paternity leave for the papas). A child will obtain a place in a day care center and kindergarten when the parents return to work and excellent free education through university. Extremely generous vacations for all workers, unemployment insurance and job training, lifelong free medical care, state provided pensions and even money to pay for a funeral and burial results that Sweden has a remarkably egalitarian distribution of income and low rate of poverty. The living standards of the poor are closer to those of median citizens than in other advanced countries. It is therefore because of the system of income determination not because of the homogeneity of the population that Sweden is considered a highly egalitarian country.

In Denmark, the basic assumption of equality is a major principle in all spheres of Danish law. Fundamental human rights are protected by the Danish Constitution. The protection covers civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights. Danish government prides itself on a simply stated social welfare system as well. The century-old, deep-rooted egalitarian beliefs of the society intermixed with the growth of the public sector shaping a state where everyone has a right to social security when meeting certain economic conditions. Thus, acts on social security offer a very wide protection to the unemployed, pensioners, single parents, students and other economically strained groups. Everyone with a permanent address in Denmark has the right to profit from the public health insurance system, which is to a high degree free of charge. All parents receive an annual contribution to the upbringing of their children.

When you fall ill

There is unique waiting list system for hospital treatment in Norway. All who make an appointment for an examination or treatment at a public hospital – with the exception of those in need of immediate treatment – are placed on the waiting list. Acutely ill patients are given immediate treatment. Second priority patients – those who are seriously ill – are guaranteed treatment within three months. All other patients have to wait for an opening. The length of the deferment varies from county to county and from medical field to field.

Denmark has a national health care that allows individuals who have been in the country for as little as six weeks completely free medical care. This is possible in Denmark because the Danes pay 50% of their income in taxes to support this economic system. Individuals have the right to choose their own general practitioner. If the medical situation cannot be treated by the general practitioner then the patient will receive written permission to see a specialist or be admitted into the hospital.

If you are out of work

All who have been previously employed and earned a certain minimum income in Norway have earned the right to unemployment benefits from the National Insurance. Benefits amount to a certain share of prior earnings.

When it comes to unemployment, also the importance of the Swedish welfare state is particularly meaningful. Unemployment in Sweden is not considered as the failure of a lazy or incapable person, but as the inability of the society to provide a job to a skilled and useful individual. So, the state is spending 3.3% of the annual GNP (1985 figures) to tackle labor market issues, 80% of which is used to actively fight unemployment and only the remaining 20% are paid as unemployment benefits, which are nonetheless relatively high.

In Denmark, to remedy the immediate effects of becoming unemployed, maintenance is paid through an unemployment insurance system which provides a benefit during unemployment (called arbejdsløshedsdagpenge). This is paid through private Unemployment Insurance Funds which are organized in the form of associations and in most cases administered by a trade union.

When pregnant, women who have been employed for at least six of the last ten months are entitled to a maternity leave with full pay, limited upwards to six times the basic national insurance sum. Statistics show that Norway is a world leader in work participation among women. In 1999, 74 per cent of women aged 15–64 were in paid employment compared with 53 per cent in the EU countries. Norway has a unique combination of high female participation in the work force and a high fertility rate (1.85 children on average). Many mothers of small children work. Women with small children also want to continue working: 86 per cent of women with children between three and six years of age have a job and an increasing number of them are in full time employment. Among young couples there is a trend towards increased sharing of responsibility for child care. The fathers' quota has led 80 per cent of fathers to exercise their right to take time off for child care.

Transfer programs for families with children in Sweden are extensive. They are designed to stimulate work by both parents. Parents pay a fee for the child, but 80–90 percent of the costs are subsidized. Most local authorities set lower fees for the second and third child of the same family, and for single parents. This is designed to facilitate parents combining work and parenting.

Maternity leave in Denmark lasts 4 weeks prior to the birth and up to 24 weeks after. The father is entitled to paternity leave of two weeks after the birth. From the fifteenth week after the birth the mother can transfer all or a portion of her remaining maternity leave to the father.

The Norwegian Government has a special minister to attend to issues concerning children and families. The minister’s sphere of responsibility embraces child care, day care institutions and sexual equality. Norway was the first country in the world to appoint a special ombud for children.

Social service is also required to help substance abusers, e.g. by finding placements for them at treatment institutions. The law allows for the commitment of persons with serious alcohol or drug abuse problems. A substance abuser can be committed to an institution for a maximum of three months.

Basically only a small number of alcoholics and drug addicts in Sweden live in misery. These are the ones who cannot really take care of themselves and have not gone to the social service agencies. A variety of facilities for alcoholics is being provided, including clinics, half-way houses, and emergency housing open twenty-four hours a day.

Similar to other European countries, Denmark experienced a rising number of drug-abusers among the younger population in the 60s. As these people became older, the drug-abuse spread to encompass the older generations. The government has increased the funds set aside to help the growing number of drug-abusers.

Since the end of the Second World War, Norwegian governments’ policy has been strongly characterized by efforts to achieve equal opportunities for all citizens, particularly with regard to access to education. This led to the establishment of a unitary primary and lower secondary school system for the first 10 school years and upper secondary schools. The same principle was applied in expanding the higher education sector (three of the four Norwegian universities were founded after 1945.

In Sweden school resources are also equally distributed. Private schools are rare; and public resources are allocated so that „the size of the parent’s wallet hall not influences the school quality of the child”. Special resources are geared toward the least able pupils.

Danish state also has to provide free education for all children and teenagers, from elementary school to master’s degrees at university level. Education is compulsory through the age of 16. There is an average for Folkeskole, i.e. elementary schools of 300 children per school and 18 per class. As a result illiteracy in Denmark is virtually non- existent.

In the Norwegian culture women have a prominent position. The general attitude there is that nothing that is possible for a man is impossible for a woman. Other cultures may even find Norwegian women somewhat mannish due to their open and direct way of dealing with others.

The goal of Norwegian gender equality policy is to give men and women the same possibilities, rights and obligations within all sectors of society. Women must be protected from sexual violence and power and influence are to be equally divided between the sexes. This implies that men and women are given the same potential for economic independence and the same terms and conditions on the labor market. Furthermore, men and women are to share responsibility for the day-to-day care of the home and children. It may appear on the surface that full equality has been achieved and the fact that in politics women are particularly well represented is seen as an indication of this. But much remains to be done. For example, only 6 per cent of board members in listed companies are women and female representation is equally low in the top echelons of Norwegian business and industry. There is still a wage gap of 20 per cent between men and women in full time employment.

The search for fairness has helped the Swedish society to achieve a relatively high level of sexual equality. About 78% of the women are working; they are much represented in the political institutions and laws have been passed to help men and women attain the same status in the society. For example, men can take leave of absence from work to look after the children. However, as the Swedish society has its rigidities, some laws or ideas are difficult to enforce: bosses are still very reluctant to let their male employees take holidays to take care of the children and despite the efforts toward sexual equality, nearly 50% of the working women only have a part-time job.

Equality between men and women is a major goal in Danish society, and the foundation for the work of fulfilling this aim is an understanding of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural and civil or any other field as privileges to be enjoyed by all citizens, be they male or female. In terms of numbers of workers (total employed and unemployed) there were 89 women for every 100 men in 2001 (80 in 1982).

Efforts to combat bullying and racism

Norway is steadily becoming a multicultural society. In Oslo about one in five young people has a minority background. Cultural diversity is both enriching and positive for the community but it also poses challenges with regard to integration. Racism and discrimination conflict with basic Norwegian values. The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs subsidizes special measures to enhance the conditions under which young people grow up in urban communities in general and to stimulate integration and combat racism in particular. As mobbing is a major problem among children and young people regardless of their cultural background, money has been set aside for the wide range of measures including the introduction of a special program against bullying in the primary schools, starting this year.

In Sweden more than 10% of the population is non-Swedish these days. They have had a very open immigration policy since the 60s, although not quite as many have been allowed in recent years.

With respect to the aim of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination or similar types of discrimination or less favorable treatment Denmark has adopted the Act on the Prohibition of Differential Treatment on the Grounds of Race soon in 1971. The act prohibits any differential treatment on the ground of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation in the performance of commercial or public activity. The protection against discrimination at work is left to the parties of the labor market. According to a general rule of the Act on Private Registers of 1987 business entities may not register information about private matters of individuals concerning race, color, religion and sexual orientation.