Seven Revolutions Forum: Globalization and the Welfare State

CSIS's Global Strategy Institute, the Embassy of Denmark, the American-Danish Business Council, and the Council on Competitiveness hosted Denmark's minister for employment, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, for a breakfast discussion about the unique way in which Denmark has addressed globalization.

Minister Frederiksen spoke of how Denmark has merged the U.S. capitalist self-reforming method with the more regulated European method. The government of Denmark believes that with a commitment to reform, it is possible to preserve the Scandinavian welfare model and encourage the country's overall competitiveness through efforts regarding education, research, mobility, and pension age. Part of this reform incorporates the idea of "flexicurity," or a combination of flexibility and social security that prevents Danish workers from losing their competitive edge as a result of globalization. Denmark has adopted this ambitious "welfare compromise" in order to take its economy successfully into the next decade.