Scandinavian Higher Education Governance – Pursuing Similar Goals through Different Organizational Arrangements

Under embargo until: 2022-02-03The differences and similarities among the three Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have been discussed by social scientists on several occasions. Focusing on higher education (HE) governance systems, this paper raises three questions. (1) What are the differences and similarities among the three countries? (2) How can the similarities and differences be explained? (3) Are the similarities strong enough to justify the common label of a Scandinavian model of HE governance? The three HE governance systems are briefly described and compared. They are then analyzed as, respectively, outcomes of partisan politics or politico-administrative regimes. The paper argues that similarities such as publicness, massive investments, and emphasis on access are best explained in terms of partisan politics, while the variation in governance arrangements can best be explained by path dependencies following choices made at critical junctures within similar politicoadministrative regimes.acceptedVersio

Democracy, minority rights and plural societies: plus ça change?

For more than a century, it was assumed that plural societies were unconducive to democratic government and assimilation a necessity. The end of the Cold War reopened the question of self-determination and the concomitant issue of minority rights not only in Europe but also worldwide. As a result, minority rights and multiculturalism are emerging as the consensus position on democracy in plural societies. But it would be inaccurate and potentially unwise to regard this pluralist perspective as a universal remedy for the problems of diversity. Instead, the history of academic debate and public policy in this area as surveyed here is testimony to the fact that there can be no categorical imperatives when addressing problems of democratic governance in plural societies; both academics and policy-makers would do well to remember that crucial fact