The Nordic Economic, Social and Political Model Challenges in the 21st Century .

While campaigning for the 2016 US Democratic Party presidential nomina- tion, Senator Bernie Sanders invoked the Nordic countries as a model for future politics. In a debate, he declared, ‘I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accom- plished for their working people.’1 Hailing the Nordic countries, especially Denmark, as an example of ‘democratic socialism’,2 Sanders’s vision engen- dered a heated debate, with political opponents critiquing the implied political agenda, the prime minister of Denmark protesting the idea of Denmark as a socialist country, and journalists and pundits presenting corrective views of the economic and social policies of the Nordic countries.3 The critiques notwith- standing, the notion of the Nordic model has continued to circulate in US political imaginary, invoked by both left and centre Democratic politicians