End of big government: Is it happening in the Nordic countries?

This paper offers a discussion on how to assess government in the Nordic co untries. It shows that an answer to the question of whether big government is ending in the Nordic countries depends on how the words "big" and "gover nment" are defined. "Bigness" can be defined in terms of size or largeness (i.e., number of employees, relative costs, and spheres of involvement). It can also be defined in terms of its importance in society, which concerns the quality of government service (i.e., output and outcome of governmental effort), representation of the will of the people, and social representati on. An understanding of the term government also influences how the questio n of the end of big government is formulated. Classical definitions focus o n the need for government to be in control of its territory and in command of the tasks in its sphere of responsibility. Government ability to control and command are now being challenged by unclear horizontal and vertical se paration of powers, regionalization and globalization, decentralization and devolution, and involvement of nongovernmental units in the policy steerin g process (i.e., governance). The general conclusions offered in the paper are that there are trends toward the end of large-size Nordic government at the central level but not at the other government levels. Government is ev en becoming larger at the lower levels. Also, the European level is becomin g bigger in terms of certain measures of size. A different answer is given for government importance. All layers of government still show high levels of efficiency and effectiveness and education levels for civil servants, go od reflection of the will of the people as well as improving social represe ntation of women. Social representation is more problematic for other margi nalized groups in society. Government control and command is impacted at al l levels by the trends mentioned above. Nordic government is more porous, a nd this is changing the prerequisites for Nordic big government. The result s of the study should not be interpreted to mean that the extensive welfare states in the Nordic area are without problems. There are problems with ci tizen efficacy and public trust.