ABSTRACT
Scandinavia has become a symbol of the advanced postmodern society. This chapter summarizes the findings of the handbook, organized in sections on polity, politics, and policies and connects them to the expectations from the literature on Scandinavian politics. Scandinavian politics are often characterized by outsiders and insiders alike as progressive, activist and egalitarian. The Nordic countries are becoming increasingly 'normalized'; that is, increasingly exposed to the same global and European trends as other states in the region and responding to these trends by adapting to European rather than specifically Nordic policy choices and practices. Thus, Scandinavia has become less a case of 'the other European community' than it was 50, 25 or even ten years ago. Scandinavian polities remain distinctly Nordic, whereas politics are less Scandinavian and policies are even less distinct. Normalization has had a stronger impact on foreign policies than domestic policies.
