Is Nordic elder care facing a (new) collaborative turn?

Abstract

Nordic countries are known for their service-based welfare states, which include basic health and social care for all older adults who have been formally assessed and found to need additional services. Facing fiscal constraints in the mid-1990s, these countries endeavoured to create more cost-effective care services that incorporated the doctrines of new public management (NPM). Overlapping NPM, steps have been taken to better integrate services and utilise the care capacity of a broader institutional and environmental set of actors. In this study, we draw attention to this call for collaborative and participatory modes of governance beyond NPM. We explore whether and how Nordic eldercare policies fit in to the framework and logic of new public governance (NPG). The data consist of 62 key government documents from five Nordic countries, representing the central features of eldercare policies over the past 10 years. Our content analysis is based on three conceptual lenses associated with NPG: service integration, service co-production and cross-sectoral co-creation. The analysis shows that several policy issues are framed by the logic of NPG in all countries. Further research is needed to assess how these NPG measures are implemented and interacting with institutional arrangements of other public governance paradigms.