ABSTRACT
The spread of the ombudsman is one of the most successful examples of the global circulation of a Nordic idea. Like many countries, the United States experienced a wave of interest in the Nordic ombudsman during the mid-twentieth century, precipitating attempts to establish ombudsman offices throughout the country. The translation of the policy from a Nordic to an American context proved a point of tension between a prominent network of legal experts seeking to maintain as many features as possible from the Nordic political setting and national and local policymakers more interested in adapting the ombudsman to resolve domestic issues. Ultimately, the principles and methods developed in the Nordic countries were abandoned to fit a larger country with a political culture skeptical of large government and expert intervention and dealing with crises diverging from those in Scandinavia. Thus, even as the ombudsman became an indelible part of American solutions for bureaucratic control in the 1960s, American perceptions of the relevance of Nordic experiences were undermined.
