The Nordic Model on the Global Market of Ideas: The Welfare State as Scandinavia’s Best Brand

All the World’s a Stage: Promotional Politics and Branded Identities in Asia

“…Critical work has emerged only recently and it is making fundamental contributions to the study of global promotional politics in an era of (supposed) global competitiveness, notably highlighting the geopolitical underpinnings of national promotional practices (Browning & Ferraz de Oliveira, 2017a;2017b;Rumelili & Suleymanoglu-Kurum, 2017;Szostek, 2017). More research is needed into the diverse ways in which global promotional imperatives serve as instruments of both domestic governance and nation building (Cho, 2017;Cornelissen, 2017;Marklund, 2017), especially in new states (Harengel & Gbadamosi, 2014) or states that have undergone crises threatening national cohesion (Valaskivi, 2013).…”

“…Since "it's pretty clear what kind of country has powerful brand values: a stable, liberal, democratic Western state with a tendency to neutrality, often producing several well-known branded products and a strong international presence in the media" (Anholt, 2007, pp. 45-46, my emphasis), then nations have to act, and consequently look, as such (Marklund, 2017). As in nation-branding advocacy, citizens are understood to be central actors in the performative identity of the competitive nation, in unison with other key stakeholders such as corporations and the media.…”

Making Chile Visible: Purposes, Operationalisation and Audiences from the Perspective of Nation Branding Practitioners

“…Rather, it introduces a new level of complexity for their analysis. 15 Nation branding can be understood as a manifestation of what Dijkink calls 'geopolitical visions', that is, 'any idea concerning the relation between one's own and other places, involving feelings of (in)security or (dis)advantage (and/or) invoking ideas about a collective mission or foreign policy strategy'.…”

The ‘Idea of Career’ and ‘A Welfare State of Mind’

“…This was intended to serve as a mobilising vision and to engender cohesion (Ryner, 2007). Marklund (2017) argues that since the 1950s, the Nordic countries have been actively building a 'brand' as a base for cultural diplomacy, taking advantage of positive international interest in their economic and social policies and ability to combine the interests of capital and labour in a democratic and efficient way (see Hooley,Chapter 3,this volume). The book Freedom and Welfare (Nelson, 1953) published by the Nordic council addressed current trends, issues and policies of the Nordic countries at this time, establishing the welfare state as the common ground for Nordic cultural diplomacy, and a key part of the external image and the common Nordic identity.…”

“…The book Freedom and Welfare (Nelson, 1953) published by the Nordic council addressed current trends, issues and policies of the Nordic countries at this time, establishing the welfare state as the common ground for Nordic cultural diplomacy, and a key part of the external image and the common Nordic identity. At the same time, the Nordic countries competed for attention, especially from the US (Marklund, 2017), and chose different strategies for international cooperation, with Norway and Iceland not entering the European union, and Sweden and Finland not entering NATO (Iso-Markku, 2018).…”