The Nordic Model and the Estonian Political Discourse

This chapter studies the appropriation of the Nordic as a brand in the domestic political discourse of Estonia in 1997-2017. It departs from the assumption that the peculiarity of the Nordic branding is not confined to the strategies of place branding applied for representing the Nordics, but includes long-standing efforts to export the ‘Nordic’ also as a societal model and a set of values and norms to be copied and followed by others. The chapter concludes that despite the long-term adherence to the Nordics as a telos for Estonian society, in the domestic political discourse only selective appropriation of the elements associated with the Nordic identity and model have occurred. The meaning and significance of the Nordics has shifted according to the ideological stance of the political actors as well as to the particular political situations and themes, thus making it a ‘floating signifier’ in Estonian political discourse.