Political Science in the Nordic Countries

Abstract

Political science has traditions in Finland and Sweden, but is a new academic discipline in Denmark, Iceland and Norway where it was introduced only after World War II. The differences in development, however, have not produced differences in style and outlook. Nordic political science has been and still is strongly dependent on basic influences from the US, and descriptions of problem areas and research approaches in the Nordic countries may well be carried out in terms of similarities rather than dissimilarities. Recent discussions about the state of the art have expressed concern about tendencies towards scientific disintegration, manifest in the institutionalization of political-science subfields and in the growth of so-called sector research based on short-term political priorities.