The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State
Norway has long been considered to be a bastion of social democracy due to its strong, protective, decommodifying welfare state. However, with the recent rise of neoliberalism and right-wing populist politics across the West, this Northern European society has gradually shifted from Keynesian Fordis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of Social Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://humanrer.org/index.php/njsr/article/view/3244 |
| _version_ | 1797641963209490432 |
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| author | Victor Lund Shammas Tony Sandset |
| author_facet | Victor Lund Shammas Tony Sandset |
| author_sort | Victor Lund Shammas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Norway has long been considered to be a bastion of social democracy due to its strong, protective, decommodifying welfare state. However, with the recent rise of neoliberalism and right-wing populist politics across the West, this Northern European society has gradually shifted from Keynesian Fordism to a moderate form of neoliberalism. This political-economic pivot has also resulted in a transformation of what Foucault termed biopolitics: a politics concerned with life itself. In early 2019, leading politicians in Norway’s centre-right coalition government placed the problem of the declining fertility rate on the national agenda and framed the problem of biological reproduction in ways particular to their political-ideological perspectives. The Conservative Party discussed reproduction in terms of producerism, or the problem of supplying the welfare state with labouring, tax-paying citizens. The Progress Party emphasised ethnonational exclusion, engaging in racial denigration with the aim to ensure the reproduction of ‘ethnic Norwegians’. The Christian Democrats highlighted a conservative Christian ‘right to life’ topos amidst growing secularisation and pluralism. All three parties signalled a turn from traditional social-democratic ideologies. Neoliberalism has proven to be malleable, able to fuse with a wide range of biopolitical programmes including moral exhortations, ethnonational exclusion and religious discourse to approach the problem of reproduction. However, this post-social-democratic approach generally is unwilling to provide material security through large-scale social expenditures and universal welfare institutions, preferring instead to address the ‘hearts and minds’ of the populace. Consequently, the fundamental cause of sub-replacement fertility—the gradual proliferation of ontological insecurity—remains unaddressed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T13:53:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-727b5a97828d40868291a4e493581e52 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1892-2783 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T13:53:18Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of Social Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-727b5a97828d40868291a4e493581e522023-11-02T07:48:58ZengScandinavian University Press/UniversitetsforlagetNordic Journal of Social Research1892-27832020-02-0111110.7577/njsr.3244The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare StateVictor Lund Shammas0Tony Sandset1Work Research Institute (AFI), Oslo Metropolitan UniversityCenter for Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of OsloNorway has long been considered to be a bastion of social democracy due to its strong, protective, decommodifying welfare state. However, with the recent rise of neoliberalism and right-wing populist politics across the West, this Northern European society has gradually shifted from Keynesian Fordism to a moderate form of neoliberalism. This political-economic pivot has also resulted in a transformation of what Foucault termed biopolitics: a politics concerned with life itself. In early 2019, leading politicians in Norway’s centre-right coalition government placed the problem of the declining fertility rate on the national agenda and framed the problem of biological reproduction in ways particular to their political-ideological perspectives. The Conservative Party discussed reproduction in terms of producerism, or the problem of supplying the welfare state with labouring, tax-paying citizens. The Progress Party emphasised ethnonational exclusion, engaging in racial denigration with the aim to ensure the reproduction of ‘ethnic Norwegians’. The Christian Democrats highlighted a conservative Christian ‘right to life’ topos amidst growing secularisation and pluralism. All three parties signalled a turn from traditional social-democratic ideologies. Neoliberalism has proven to be malleable, able to fuse with a wide range of biopolitical programmes including moral exhortations, ethnonational exclusion and religious discourse to approach the problem of reproduction. However, this post-social-democratic approach generally is unwilling to provide material security through large-scale social expenditures and universal welfare institutions, preferring instead to address the ‘hearts and minds’ of the populace. Consequently, the fundamental cause of sub-replacement fertility—the gradual proliferation of ontological insecurity—remains unaddressed.https://humanrer.org/index.php/njsr/article/view/3244biopoliticsFoucaultethnonationalismsocial democracyneoliberalismfertility |
| spellingShingle | Victor Lund Shammas Tony Sandset The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State Nordic Journal of Social Research biopolitics Foucault ethnonationalism social democracy neoliberalism fertility |
| title | The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State |
| title_full | The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State |
| title_fullStr | The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State |
| title_short | The Biopolitics of Ethnonationalism: Fertility in Defense of the Welfare State |
| title_sort | biopolitics of ethnonationalism fertility in defense of the welfare state |
| topic | biopolitics Foucault ethnonationalism social democracy neoliberalism fertility |
| url | https://humanrer.org/index.php/njsr/article/view/3244 |
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