At a Crossroad in Social Policy Reform? Choices for Scotland: Evidence from the Baltics and the Nordics

With the debate around Scotland’s constitutional future dominating Scottish political discourse, the discussion has widened to broader considerations about the future of Scottish society and the nature of the state. There are, broadly speaking, two Weberian-type models which Scotland could follow: a social investment (and, broadly, social democratic) model, in the style of the Nordic states, or a market competition (and, thereby, more neo-liberal) model, practiced in part by the Baltic states. Both groups of states are instructive in providing lessons for Scotland in terms of how the state is organised and how social policy operates within these distinct models. This paper utilises case study analysis to consider these models and their resonance for social policy reform in Scotland.