BUSINESS AND THE NORDIC WELFARE STATES, 1890-1970

Abstract

Social scientists have, since the 1990s, shown an increasing interest in the role of business actors in welfare state development, and these debates provide many opportunities for historians of the Nordic countries to contribute with their insights and findings. This special issue brings together six historical studies on the role of business in the development of the welfare states in the Nordic countries, including the role of firms as providers of company welfare as well as the activities of firms and of business interest groups to influence policies and public opinion. Two observations stand out. First, the contributions draw a picture of a gradual shift in this period from that of fundamental opposition, which often dominated up to the mid-20th century, to a more pragmatic approach of cooperation. Cooperation in policy-making co-existed with confrontation in public debate, in which business interest groups promoted alternatives to ‘big government’. Second, these studies underline the value of paying attention to what Reinhart Koselleck called ‘horizons of expectations’. These historical studies show how the vocabulary of the actors changed in this period, and how business interest groups not only influenced political decisions but also adapted their expectations to changes in the political context.

Keywords:

• welfare state history
• social policy
• business history
• firms
• employers’ associations
• business interest associations

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dennie Oude Nijhuis and the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed, useful comments on this introduction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Kurunmäki and Strang, Rhetorics of Nordic Democracy.

2 See, for instance, Steinmo, The Evolution of Modern States; Fellman, Creating Nordic Capitalism.

3 For instance, Thakur, Sweden’s Welfare State; Campbell, Hall, and Pedersen, National Identity and the Varieties of Capitalism.

4 Henrekson, ‘Entreprenuership’, 437–8.

5 Lindbeck, ‘The Swedish Experiment’, 1312.

6 Haffert and Mehrtens, ‘From Austerity to Expansion?’; Kvist and Greve, ‘Nordic Welfare Model’; Jochem, ‘Nordic Employment Policies’.

7 Cerny, ‘Paradoxes of the Competition State’.

8 Pedersen, Konkurrencestaten.

9 Andersen, Konkurrencestaten og dens kritikere.

10 For instance, Stephens, Huber, and Ray, ‘The Welfare State in Hard Times’.

11 For a detailed review of research in the social sciences on business–welfare state relations, see Paster, ‘Bringing Power Back In’.

12 Swenson, ‘Bringing Capital Back In’; Swenson, Capitalists against Markets.

13 For instance, Martin, ‘Labour Market Coordination and the Evolution of Tax Regimes’.

14 For instance, Shalev, ‘The Social Democratic Model and Beyond’, 319.

15 Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, 22.

16 Pontusson, The Limits of Social Democracy, 229.

17 Katzenstein, Small States in World Markets, 139–90.

18 Swenson, ‘Bringing Capital Back In’.

19 O’Connor, The Fiscal Crisis of the State.

20 Levine, Class Struggle and the New Deal.

21 Quadagno, ‘Welfare Capitalism’.

22 Mares, The Politics of Social Risks; Estévez-Abe, Iversen, and Soskice, ‘Social Protection and the Formation of Skills’.

23 Mares, ‘The Sources of Business Interest in Social Insurance’; Mares, ‘Is Unemployment Insurable?’;Mares, ‘Strategic Alliances and Social Policy Reform’.

24 Martin and Swank, The Political Construction of Business Interests; Martin, ‘Consider the Source!’; Swank and Martin, ‘Employers and the Welfare State’; Martin and Swank, ‘Does the Organization of Capital Matter?’; Martin and Swank, ‘Gonna Party Like It’s 1899’. See also Paster, ‘Business and Welfare State Development’; Arisi, The Political Organisation of Business; Paster, ‘Why Did Austrian Business Oppose Welfare Cuts?’.

25 Martin, ‘Reinventing Welfare Regimes’.

26 Swenson, ‘Bringing Capital Back In’, 536.

27 Korpi, ‘Power Resources and Employer-Centered Approaches’, 202; Hacker and Pierson, ‘Business Power and Social Policy’; Paster, ‘German Employers and the Origins of Unemployment Insurance’.

28 Korpi, The Democratic Class Struggle.

29 Korpi, The Democratic Class Struggle.

30 Hacker and Pierson, ‘Business Power and Social Policy’.

31 Paster, The Role of Business; Paster, ‘How Do Business Interest Groups Respond’.

32 The role of business interests in the social policy reforms of the New Deal period, in particular, has been studied in depth by US business historians. Examples are Berkowitz and McQuaid, Businessman and Bureaucrat; Berkowitz and MacQuaid, Creating the Welfare State; Gordon, ‘New Deal, Old Deck’; Gordon, New Deals; Jacoby, ‘Employers and the Welfare State’. The origins of company welfare have also been studied in depth by US business historians, for instance, in Jacoby, Modern Manors; Klein, For All These Rights; Tone, The Business of Benevolence.

33 Breger, Die Haltung der industriellen Unternehmer; Breger, ‘Bismarcks Sozialstaat’; Ullmann, ‘Industrielle Interessen’ analyse the involvement of business interests in Bismarck’s social reforms. In the English-language literature, E. P. Hennock, among others, covers the role of heavy industry in the adoption of accident insurance in the early 1880s: Hennock, The Origin of the Welfare State. Some other studies by German historians, while not focused mainly on business, also touch on the role of business interests in welfare reforms. Examples are the analysis of the introduction of unemployment insurance in Führer, Arbeitslosigkeit und die Entstehung der Arbeitslosenversicherung; the analysis of the domestic class politics during World War I in Kocka, Facing Total War; and Feldman, Army, Industry, and Labor; and the analysis of post-war social policy development in Hockerts, Sozialpolitische Entscheidungen. For an overview in English about the involvement of business interest groups in the development of welfare state programmes in Germany, see Paster, ‘Business Interests’.

34 Petersen, Petersen, and Christiansen, Dansk velfærdshistorie, Vol 1-6.

35 Ibid.

36 Sejersted, Demokratisk kapitalisme.

37 See Chandler, Scale and Scope.

38 Boje, Vejen til velstand.

39 Fellman, Creating Nordic Capitalism.

40 For instance, Tønsberg, ‘Patriarkalisme’.

41 Stenlås, Den inre kretsen; Söderpalm, Direktörklubben; Söderpalm, Arbetsgivarna och saltsjöbadspolitiken; Söderpalm, Storföretagarna.

42 Lind Larsen, Produktivitet, vækst og velfærd.

43 Paster, The Role of Business.

44 Blyth, ‘The Transformation of the Swedish Model’; Kinderman, ‘Challenging Varieties of Capitalism’s Account of Business Interests’; Pestoff, ‘Globalization’; Pestoff, ‘The Demise’; Ryner, Capitalist Restructuring, 169–70; Svallfors, ‘Politics as Organised Combat’.

45 Koselleck, ‘“Erfahrungsraum” und “Erwartungshorizont”’.

46 Beland and Petersen, Analysing Social Policy Concepts and Language.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions [705677].

Notes on contributors

Jeppe Nevers

Jeppe Nevers is Professor at the Department of History at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense. Address: Department of History, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. [email: [email protected]]

Thomas Paster

Thomas Paster is a Visiting Fellow at the Danish Center for Welfare Studies at the Univesity of Southern Denmark, Odense. Address: Danish Center for Welfare Studies, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. [email: [email protected]]