'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.