The Collaborative Turn in the Nordic Welfare States

Beschreibung

This book offers a critical examination of the collaborative turn unfolding across the Nordic welfare states. Focusing on co-production—partnerships between citizens, public authorities, and civil society—the volume explores how this approach is reshaping policies, institutional arrangements, and the role of civil society in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.

While co-production is increasingly promoted as a solution to persistent challenges—such as policy complexity, democratic deficits, and fiscal pressures—the Nordic experience reveals important variations in its scope, forms, and implications. Is this shift a genuine transformation of the welfare state, or an adaptive strategy cloaked in collaborative rhetoric? Drawing on comparative perspectives, the book highlights how Nordic traditions of universalism, egalitarianism, and strong public institutions create distinct conditions for collaboration—conditions that differ markedly from those in liberal or residual welfare regimes where co-production theories have largely been developed. In doing so, it challenges dominant frameworks and argues for a reconceptualization of co-production through a Nordic perspective.

Aimed at scholars, policymakers, and practitioners, this volume offers a significant contribution to welfare state and civil society research and invites reflection on the promises and limits of collaborative governance in times of change.

Linda Lundgaard Andersen is Professor at the Department of People and Technology at Roskilde University, Denmark.

Bernard Enjolras is Director in the Center For The Research On Civil Society and Voluntary Sector and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research (ISF), Oslo, Norway.

Ari Nieminen is Senior Lecturer at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Finland.

Johan Vamstad is Associate Professor at the Center for Civil Society Research, Marie Cederschiöld University, Sweden.

This book offers a critical examination of the collaborative turn unfolding across the Nordic welfare states. Focusing on co-production—partnerships between citizens, public authorities, and civil society—the volume explores how this approach is reshaping policies, institutional arrangements, and the role of civil society in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.

While co-production is increasingly promoted as a solution to persistent challenges—such as policy complexity, democratic deficits, and fiscal pressures—the Nordic experience reveals important variations in its scope, forms, and implications. Is this shift a genuine transformation of the welfare state, or an adaptive strategy cloaked in collaborative rhetoric? Drawing on comparative perspectives, the book highlights how Nordic traditions of universalism, egalitarianism, and strong public institutions create distinct conditions for collaboration—conditions that differ markedly from those in liberal or residual welfare regimes where co-production theories have largely been developed. In doing so, it challenges dominant frameworks and argues for a reconceptualization of co-production through a Nordic perspective.

Aimed at scholars, policymakers, and practitioners, this volume offers a significant contribution to welfare state and civil society research and invites reflection on the promises and limits of collaborative governance in times of change.

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Linda Lundgaard Andersen

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co-production Nordic welfare states collaborative turn transformation institutional changes policy narratives collective democracy particpatory marketization New Public Management New Public Governance multi-level impact citizenship

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“This book should be your go-to-source for all exciting new developments related to co-production and collaborative governance in Nordic countries. It provides rigorous conceptual frameworks, valuable comparative perspectives and revealing case studies. The book demonstrates how co-production now complements the highly valued Nordic welfare model.” (Elke Loeffler, University of Birmingham and Governance International)

“This is the most comprehensive exploration of co-production in the Nordic countries to date. It is an important contribution to our understanding of how institutional logics have shaped the space for co-production in different countries, showing that its progress towards a more mainstream feature of the welfare state is neither inevitable nor straightforward. As such, the book is not only valuable to those with an interest in co-production, but also to those who wish to explore how different logics compete for dominance within the welfare state. It also usefully shows how governance reforms can contribute to the integration of co-production within existing institutional structures.” (Taco Brandsen, Radboud University)

“This book provides the most comprehensive scholarly review of co-production in the Nordic welfare states to date. Its critical and holistic approach enables the reader to achieve a deeper understanding of the collaborative turn in a comparative perspective. In my opinion, its originality and value rest in the unique combination of a systematic review, reflexive contextualization, and empirical variation – all within a well-defined analytical framework. Surely, this book will become a standard reference and inspiration for researchers in this rapidly growing field of intellectual debate, policy development, and practical experimentation.” (Halvard Vike, University of South-Eastern Norway)

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