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Hennum, Simen

University of British Columbia

The Nordic model (of capitalism) occupies a central position in the imagined universe of capitalist alternatives, often serving as a point of comparison to an idealized conception of US-style capitalism. While the Nordic model, as an object of analysis, has traditionally been the remit of political economy, I argue in this thesis that the methodological sensibilities of economic geographers and geographical political economists are well-suited to move beyond extant “geographically thin” frameworks mobilized to explain the Nordic model. Chapter 1 provides a critical assessment of the sparse literature on the Nordic model in geography as well as recent re-engagements with uneven and combined development in the discipline. The thesis proceeds to develop two approaches to the Nordic model: one “macro” and one “meso” level. In chapter 2, I pursue a “macro” approach by reviewing the extant literature on the Nordic model in political economy. I argue that the portrayal of the Nordic countries as “small and open economies” along with an underemphasis of the importance of “the global” for the viability of the model are two points of tension between economic geography and political economy that can be overcome. In chapter 3, I provide a “meso” take on the Nordic model by analyzing recent labor reforms in Norway that re-regulate the temporary staffing industry after decades of an increasingly favorable regulatory environment that enabled the proliferation of triangulated labor relations. I triangulate publicly available statistics, the grey literature surrounding the reforms, and semi-structured interviews with managers of domestic and transnational staffing agencies, representatives of labor unions, business organization, and civil society organizations to provide an explanation for why and how the temporary staffing market is being reconstructed. I draw on recent methodological innovations from legal geographers to examine the role of the law in constructing markets and make the case that the regulation of temporary staffing takes place on an inherited neoliberalized regulatory terrain in both national and supranational legal spaces. In chapter 4, I conclude by arguing that economic geographers are well positioned to engage critically and constructively with the Nordic model as an object of analysis.

Text

2024-10-03

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89333

Geography

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/