Anu Partanen debunks criticism that Nordic countries are socialist “nanny states,” revealing instead that it is we Americans who are far more enmeshed in unhealthy dependencies than we realize. 

In 2008 Finnish journalist, Anu Partanen, married an America and moved to the U.S.. In her country of birth she had been a confident and self-directed professional. She was dumfounded that in her adopted home she felt like a self-doubting mess. As she got to know other Americans she discovered that they also shared her deep anxiety and apprehension. Being a journalist she took a close look at why.

She wrote a book, In The Nordic Theory of Everything. In it she examined the similarities and differences of life in the two countries. She focused on four principal relationships—parents and children, men and women, employees and employers, and government and citizens. Her biggest takeaway is that in spite of claims to the contrary, the Nordic approach—in which the national government, rather than private employers, play a central role in providing their citizens with the essentials of civilized life—allows citizens to enjoy more individual freedom and independence than we do.

Book Review: ‘The Nordic Theory of Everything’: Northward For a Better Life