ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the social and political dynamics that brought about this state of affairs and how it affects modern-day politics. While the welfare states are currently both big and deeply intertwined in the daily lives of millions of Scandinavians, this was not always the case. A set of historically unique circumstances combined to create the Goldilocks conditions. The chapter summarizes the rise of the Scandinavian welfare states up until the mid-1970s, focusing on what made this small region politically and institutionally unique compared to virtually every other country on the planet. It examines the positive and negative feedback mechanisms created by the Scandinavian welfare states. The chapter explains, researchers have had a tendency to focus on the former type of feedback mechanisms, but latter, in the opinion, are equally important. A key contribution of the chapter is to present an analytical framework integrating the two. The chapter discusses the future of the Scandinavian welfare states.
