Governance Reforms in Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

Impulses for governance reforms come from many directions and take different forms. The Scandinavian countries have been influenced by contemporary governance ideas—New Public Management (NPM), post-NPM, and New Public Governance (NPG)—as well as by reform ideas related to the Neo-Weberian State, to name the most important ones. The Scandinavian governance model is especially interesting because it is widely regarded as successful by international comparison, and Scandinavian countries rank high in comparative studies of economic and social performance. There are both common characteristics and national variations, but overall, a pragmatic and incremental reform model is a core feature of Scandinavian governance.