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The role of the Social Democrats in the establishment of the Scandinavian welfare state has been challenged in recent years. Institutional legacies have conditioned post‐war Social Democratic reforms, and the bourgeois parties have played a larger role than so far acknowledged. By exploring the origin of five core policies of the early Danish welfare state, it is shown that policy legacy theses cannot account for the pattern of policy organization. Focusing on party and class dynamics, it is demonstrated that the bourgeois parties, and in particular the Liberals, had a crucial influence on the choice of funding model and administrative structure. The distributional and administrative interests of core constituencies shaped the preferences of the bourgeois parties decisively.

AbstractIn recent years institutions have regained their lost prominence throughout the social sciences. A host of rules, routines, and norms shape social and political interaction, the new institutionalists agree. However a sociological and a rational choice approach have disagreed on a number of issues, most notably on how institutions shape political action. Notwithstanding this, the conception of man and human rationality is the root of most controversies. In contrast to other presentations this essay argues that the most promising aspects of the two traditions are already converging. If the rational choice approach abandons its narrow conception of rationality, and if the sociological approach concedes that human beings have a capacity of conscious reflection over goals and values irrespective of context, one of the critical obstacles for mutual theoretical enrichment has been swept away. A more reasonable conception of rationality sees preferences as culturally bounded and shaped by experiences constrained by institutions. Within this framework, dialogue between the two approaches is possible; different theories of institutional change can be seen as being complementary or as rivals; a host of politically germane issues can reenter our research agenda.

The state system and global capitalism are the two dominant institutional pillars of modernity in the international realm. These institutional structures, however, are the outcome of a contingent and historical process. New problems, perceptions and demands could pave the way for new ways of configuring political and economic space, and hence new political and economic organizational forms. Post-modernists are particularly attentive to the increasing plurality and fragmentation of identities and collective organization. But they are conspicuously silent about the institutionalization of these new forces and identities. The relation between power and domination on the one hand and institutions on the other is largely ignored. The article discusses the dynamics which might lead to new institutionalizations of international space. A typology of modern and post-modern institutional forms is developed. A more plural and fragmented post-modern international order in which the state will cease being the privileged centre of authority, it is argued, is an apt scenario for the future. The EC is one prominent example of this trend.

Objective: We study personality traits of Danish parliamentarians (MPs) and examine elite–voter congruence and elite differentiation. Whereas previous political elite studies have focused only on the Big Five level, we include aspect-level differences. Method: In a highly representative survey of Danish MPs (N = 81; response rate = 46.3%) and a representative study of Danish voters (N = 3,612), we used the 60-item NEO-PI-R short version to examine personality differences on the Big Five level and, based on the NEO-BFAS, the aspect level. Results: MPs were more extraverted, conscientious, and open than the average voter. On the elite level, liberal MPs were more agreeable and, on the aspect level, more compassionate but not more polite than conservative MPs. MPs in center parties had stronger power aspirations and were less agreeable and more extraverted than MPs in peripheral parties. On the aspect level, MPs in center parties were more assertive and enthusiastic and less polite. Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were associated with power aspiration, but Extraversion was not because the assertiveness effect was suppressed by a non-effect for enthusiasm. Conclusions: The inclusion of the aspect level explains null findings at the Big Five level and adds important nuances to the personality portrait of political elites.