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Andreas Inghammar

Deputy dean, Associate Professor

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The Impact of Populism on Scandinavian Labour Law : The Cases of Norway and Sweden

Populismens genomslag i skandinavisk arbetsrätt, exemplen Norge och Sverige.

Author

  • Andreas Inghammar
  • Alexander Sønderland SKJØNBERG

Summary, in English

Modern populism has developed in Scandinavia since at least the 1970s, first in Norway and Denmark but more recently also in Sweden. Populist political parties have been well-established in Scandinavian Parliaments for many years. However, from a labour law perspective, the populist impact, if any, has been limited and populist discourse has primarily focused on issues such as migration and the European Union (EU), and to some extent ‘welfare tourism’. This article examines the development of populist movements in Norway and Sweden and analyses the possible impact of populist policies on national labour law. The conclusion is that Nordic industrial relations and labour market regulations, based on strong and representative trade unions and well-organized and responsible employer federations, act as a robust counterweight to populist policies on the labour market.

Section 2 of the article consists of a discussion of how we understand the development of modern populism in a Norwegian and Swedish perspective. Section 3 explores the extent to which populist political ideas have directly impacted or indirectly influenced labour market regulations in the two countries. In concluding, section 4 monitors the potency of strong and well-established industrial relations as a countervailing force to populist political movements.

Department/s

  • Department of Business Law
  • Norma Research Programme
  • Lund University Centre for Business Law (Swedish abbr: ACLU)

Publishing year

2023-03-08

Language

English

Pages

97-120

Publication/Series

International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations

Volume

39

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Kluwer Law International

Topic

  • Law
  • Law (excluding Law and Society)

Keywords

  • populism
  • arbetsrätt
  • Norge
  • Sverige
  • fackföreningar
  • arbetsgivarförbund
  • migration
  • arbetsmarknad
  • populism
  • labour market
  • labour law
  • resilience
  • Norway and Sweden.
  • EU

Status

Published

Research group

  • Norma Research Programme
  • Lund University Centre for Business Law (Swedish abbr: ACLU)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1875-838X