In summary, 2018 will go down as a very good year for Nordic co-operation. TheNordic region, its values, and the policies our co-operation is based upon have been thesubject of a great deal of attention, not just within the region but internationally as well. There is new impetus and energy which, if maintained by dedicated and determinedpoliticians, can be a catalyst for bringing about significant reforms in the years to come.

The Nordic Council of Ministers can look back with satisfaction on 2017, which has been a positive year for Nordic co-operation. There are now visible results from the reforms of several key policy areas after several years of modernisation efforts, and we have raised our profile both within the Nordic Region and internationally.

Thanks to an active process of renewal within the Nordic Council of Ministers, in recent years co-operation has become more flexible and dynamic. The purpose of this annual report is to highlight some examples of the results of this process, categorised into the four main areas of the vision: freedom of movement, innovation, visibility, and international engagement.

The Nordic future of workHow will work and working life in the Nordic countries change in the future? This is the question to be addressed in the project The Future of Work: Opportunities and Challenges for the Nordic Models. This initial report describes the main drivers and trends expected to shape the future of work. It also reviews the main distinctions of the Nordic model and recent developments in Nordic working lives, pointing towards the kind of challenges the future of work may pose to the Nordic models. Too often, debates about the future narrowly focus on changes in technology. This report draws attention to the broader drivers and political-institutional frameworks influencing working life developments, aiming to spur debate about how the interaction of changes in demography, climate, globalization and digital technologies may influence Nordic working lives in the coming decades.

The Nordic Economic Outlook is an annual report on the economic development in the Nordic countries in terms of growth, business cycles and public finance The report is produced by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the content is prepared jointly by the Nordic Group of Macro Analysts (Nordiska konjunkturgruppen) with participants by experts from the Finance Ministries in the five Nordic countries. The group has operated under the Nordic Council of Ministers since 2004 and exchanges information on macroeconomic and structural developments on a continuous basis.

The Nordic Prime Ministers’ Declaration in response to the new strategy and action plan for removal of cross-border obstacles in the Nordic region. The new strategy and action plan was discussed at the 65th Session of the Nordic Council in October 2013.

Online publication: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2020-513/ Abstract [en] This report explores how the platform economy is evolving in the Nordic countries and how its evolution is influenced by the Nordic labour market models and vice-versa. Here, we include all the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), except Iceland, where platform work is still very marginal. While remaining a marginal phenomenon in the Nordic countries, platform work can be seen as one important case in which many key aspects of the changing world of work coalesce. This report on platform work in the Nordic countries thus connects some of the themes explored in the other pillars of the NFoW project, such as digitalization, new forms of employment and the legal and regulatory challenges currently faced by the social partners, governments and Nordic labour market models.

For a long time, the Nordic countries have been a region of peace, with the ability to resolve conflicts peacefully among themselves, and a region for peace, actively promoting peace globally. Although efforts to actively brand the Nordic region are ongoing, the Nordic Peace brand is an area with untapped potential. The Nordics have rich traditions for working together on peace and conflict resolution. These joint efforts have grown organically and informally from like-mindedness, letting the common Nordic culture and ways of working foster integration among them where relevant. The people working in the Nordic countries on Nordic cooperation and peace recognize the potential of strengthening the Nordic Peace brand. One area of special potential is increasing focus on the shared Nordic priorities of prevention and the women, peace and security agenda as part of the Nordic Peace brand.

This volume offers an original and theoretically grounded conceptualization and measurement of international parliamentary institutions and their role in ensuring the accountability of regional international organizations. Through a comparative analysis of the establishment, evolution, institutional organization, oversight and policymaking functions of 22 parliamentary institutions, mainly from European, African and Latin American regional international organizations, the book serves a twofold purpose. First, it allows assessment of the extent to which parliamentary institutions have (measurable) influence on the outcome of regional organizations’ decision-making processes. Second, drawing on the literature on new institutionalism and comparative regionalism, the volume investigates the conditions under which the influence of parliamentary institutions is expected to grow, thus advancing the understanding of the variation and development of this poorly explored type of international institution. The book is aimed at scholars of global governance, international organization and comparative regionalism, and will also be of interest to parliamentarians and parliamentary practitioners from national and international institutions.

This Open Access book provides a thorough analysis of the quality of work in the Netherlands, and suggests policy proposals to promote and facilitate good work for more people. New technology, flexibilization and the intensification of work will have significant consequences for all those who will still have jobs in the future, and – much less studied so far – for the quality of their work. Good work is essential for general well-being: for the individual’s quality of life, for the economy and for society. Good work for everyone should therefore be seen as an important aspiration for companies, institutions, social partners and governments. An essential read for an international audience of academics in the field of the sociology of work, labor economics and social policy, as well as for policymakers and researchers of trade unions, and representatives of other social movements.