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1 Co-operation in the Nordic countries before 1914: international networks and the transmission of ideas Nordic co-operative societies emerged during the nineteenth century as part of the wave of popular associations that included the free churches, the folk high schools, the temperance movement, voluntary fire brigades and civil defence corps, and the labour movement.1 There is a broad historical consensus that, aided by a relatively benign and tolerant state, the nineteenth century popular movements were a means to channel popular dissent and avoid violent
146 CASE STUDIES 7 National machinery for gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries birgitta åseskog Introduction In this chapter I want to describe the ‘Nordic model’ of national machinery for gender equality. I want to show the similarities between the countries, but also the differences. The official Nordic cooperation on gender equality, conducted by the Nordic Council of Ministers, is based on the development of pilot projects and reports on priority areas. It provides excellent opportunities to develop new methods and strategies and is a forum
The consumer co-operative movement was one of the most important popular movements in inter-war Europe, but remains under-researched by historians in comparison to other social movements, especially with regard to its international dimensions. From 1895, the co-operative movement also had its own international organisation, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).
This book explores the transnational history of consumer co-operation from the establishment of the movement in the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War, focusing in particular on co-operation in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). The co-operative movement was especially strong throughout the region and the Nordic co-operative federations played a prominent role in the ICA.
The fundamental question explored in the book concerns the meaning of co-operation: was it a social movement or an economic enterprise? Did it aspire to challenge capitalism or to reform it? Did it contain at its heart a political vision for the transformation of society or was it simply a practical guide for organising a business? I argue that it was both, but that an examination of the debates over the different meanings of co-operation can also illuminate broader questions about the emergence of consumer interests in the first half of the twentieth century, especially in a transnational context. Studying the Nordic co-operative movement also helps to shed light on the growing international interest in this region and the emergence of a Nordic “middle way” during the 1930s.
The role of national machineries, as a way to promote the status of women, acquired international relevance during the World Conference on the International Women's Year, in Mexico City in 1975. This book reflects Division for the Advancement of Women's (DAW) long-standing interest in the area of national machineries, bringing together the experiences, research and insights of experts. The first part of the book sets out the major issues facing national machineries at the conceptual level. It reflects upon five aspects of democratization: devolution or decentralization; the role of political parties; monitoring and auditing systems; and the importance of increasing the presence of women within institutions of the state and government. The second part is a comparative analysis and sets out the major issues facing national machineries at the political level. A combination of factors, including civil society, state bodies and political actors, need to come together for national machineries to function effectively in the interest of gender equality. Next comes the 'lessons learned' by national machineries in mainstreaming gender. National machineries should have an achievable agenda, an important part of which must be 'a re-definition of gender issues. The third part contains case studies that build upon the specific experiences of national machineries in different countries. The successful experience of Nordic countries in gender mainstreaming is also discussed.
matters such as neutrality likewise helped to raise the profile of the region within the ICA.2 During the 1930s this perception spread more widely, as Nordic co-operation attracted the interest of foreign journalists. The best-known of these was the American Marquis Childs, whose bestselling book Sweden – the Middle Way (1936) dealt extensively with co-operation. Following Childs, President Roosevelt’s 1936 Inquiry on Co-operative Enterprise in Europe also devoted much of its attention to the Nordic countries, and the documents that it generated provide an important
common international sources. The third section thus seeks to uncover the nature of this international influence. I illustrate how the partial incorporation of sexual orientation into the European human rights regime in the 1990s coupled with the early adoption of SSU policies by Nordic countries helped to create a European soft law norm for same-sex relationship recognition. The section ends by examining the linkages between the international promotion of the SSU norm and domestic policy change. The third section turns to questions of SSU policy divergence by
examines the successful experience of Nordic countries in gender mainstreaming. Åseskog links the attainment of gender equality with the ‘Nordic welfare state model’. She argues that in the Nordic countries, the ‘political view prevails that society can progress in a more democratic direction only when the competence, knowledge, experience and values of both women and men are acknowledged and allowed to influence and enrich developments in all spheres of society’ (p. 148). The argument here is also that a consensus about the equality of men and women within a political
, nationhood and race Scholars in Black European Studies at locations including Germany, the Nordic countries and the Netherlands have had to confront exceptionalism in order for the mainstreams of their own area studies to hear them (Loftsdóttir and Jensen (eds) 2012b ; Wekker 2016 ). Exceptionalism obscures the global pervasiveness of ‘race’ as a structure of thought by implying that race is not relevant for understanding somewhere because it was not directly involved in European colonialism; because it was colonised itself; or even, in the Dutch
other political and social movements. This chapter asks how the ICA responded to the different economic and political crises of the interwar years, and how these responses differed between its members, considering what this also tells us about the balance of power within the ICA. Representatives of the Nordic countries played a prominent role in these debates, arguing vehemently for the co-operative principle of political neutrality against those who would align co-operation with the socialist labour movement.8 The debate on co-operative neutrality Even before 1914
Mathiesen makes about the futility and damaging consequences of imprisonment and still disagree with his recommended moratorium. First, in only a minority of societies in the developed world – the USA, Britain, New Zealand and the Netherlands in particular – have prison population rates per 100,000 increased by over 50 per cent over the past twenty years.2 Several major societies have stable or only moderately increased levels of imprisonment, notably Canada, Germany, France, the Nordic countries and Belgium. Italy fluctuates between a low of 60 per 100,000 and a high of