Back to Search Start Over

Varieties of Marketization : Introducing a new Framework for the Study of Market Reforms in Nordic Welfare States

Varieties of Marketization : Introducing a new Framework for the Study of Market Reforms in Nordic Welfare States

Authors :
Innset, Ola
Åström Rudberg, Elin
Innset, Ola
Åström Rudberg, Elin
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

The article develops a new framework for the study ofmarket reforms in Nordic welfare states based on a divi-sion between “markets”, “quasi-markets” and “pseudo-markets”. The two latter types of marketization have been themost common, and the article exemplifies them by revisiting the early 1990s Swedish school reform, “Friskolere-formen”—which instigated a quasi-market for publicly funded schools run by both for-profit companies and non-profit actors—and the Norwegian hospital reform, “Foretaksreformen” of 2001—which created what we call a pseu-do-market, in which public hospitals were reorganized to mimic the structures of capitalist enterprise. By discussingthe different reforms in relation to justification, the typeof welfare state sector, and the political orientation of thegovernment implementing the reform, our study sheds new light on similarities and differences in marketizationprocesses in the Nordics. Particularly, we find that the justification for the reforms differed, with the Swedish reformbeing justified in ideological terms and the Norwegian in technocratic terms. Contrary to some literature, we holdthat marketization has fundamentally altered Nordic welfare states and the relationship between capital and societyin the Nordics, and we suggest that our framework could be used for future comparative studies of market reforms.

Details

Database :
OAIster
Notes :
application/pdf, English
Publication Type :
Electronic Resource
Accession number :
edsoai.on1428027022
Document Type :
Electronic Resource
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.18261.nwr.9.1.2