Scandinavia

Thomas Ekman Jørgensen

pp. 239-252

in: Martin Klimke, Joachim Scharloth (eds), 1968 in Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

Abstract

The three Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, are often and for good reasons seen as a homogeneous entity. All three countries have a long history of social democratic political hegemony that has managed to spread its norms and ideas to larger parts of society. This is very much the case in Sweden, where virtually uninterrupted social democratic government since the 1930s has left its clear mark on the Swedish elites. In Denmark and Norway there has been a more balanced competition between the liberal and conservative parties and the social democrats. For the events around 1968, this social democratic hegemony is particularly important since the movements in Scandinavia are intimately connected to the hegemonic narrative of social democratic modernity.