What is SAMAK?
SAMAK is the Co-operation Committee of the Nordic Social Democratic parties and trade union LOs. The first Workers’ Congress in this partnership between political labour parties and trade unions was held in Gothenburg, Sweden as far back as in 1886.
The last years SAMAK has been particularly active in securing and further developing the Nordic Model, through the broad research project NordMod2030 and the political manifestos “The Sørmarka Declaration” and «The Arlanda Declaration».
The Nordic Model
The Nordic Model is unique in the world. This way of designing society has given the people in the Nordics good and stable countries to live in, with a “combo” of high living standards, equalization, gender equality and sustainable, greener development.
The NordMod2030 project, undertaken by Fafo Research Foundation in Norway and a Nordic research team, gives us a good explanation just how we have made it. Much has to do with a cooperative culture and open economies with the basic pillars Economic Governance, Public Welfare and Organised Work.
You will find the English translation of “The Sørmarka Declaration» here and the main report of The NordMod2030 project here. For the full English translation of «The Arlanda Declaration», click here.
Executive summaries of all reports are here, and several of them are also in English:
- Little Engines that Could
- Economy, Politics and Welfare in Iceland
- Historical making, present and future challenges for the nordic welfare model in Finland
- To create and share – the remarkable success and contested future of the Nordic Social-Democratic Model
- Innovation and innovation policy in the Nordic region
- A sleeping giant? German trade unions in the European crisis.
Based on NordMod2030, researcher Anne Britt Djuve from Fafo has written the discussion paper Refugee migration – a crisis for the Nordic model? for SAMAK on what the refugee influx may mean for the Nordic model, and how it may be met. The English version finalized April 2016 with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung for the Nordic countries.
For an easy to read account of the Nordic Model and how it works, based on the NordMod2030-project, see “The Nordic Model for Dummies – All You Need to Know in 6 Minutes”, written by SAMAKs Secretary General Jan-Erik Støstad.
SAMAK policy
The Sørmarka Declaration is a 33 page political document adopted at The Workers’ Congress at Sørmarka just outside Oslo on November 12 2014.
The Sørmarka Declaration is a political answer to main challenges for the Nordic Model pointed to in the NordMod2030 project. In addition, it is a platform for further development of policies both on a Nordic and a national level.SAMAK report on integration (Kallset-report) of September 2016.