Nordic world class? Region branding and self-benchmarking

The Nordic Council of Ministers officially strives for a “green”, “competitive” and “socially sustainable” region under what it calls “Our Vision 2030”. To render the aggregate performance of its member states measurable, the Council deploys a total of forty-five indicators for “traffic-light visualizations” of achievements and trends benchmarked against other countries. Connecting scholarship on global benchmarking and place branding, this article examines the production of an idealized world-class region through self-benchmarking, which contrasts with the more common phenomenon of individual states’ performance being assessed by others. I interrogate the assumptions behind the Council’s aspirations by analyzing selected official documents. In line with the special issue theme, the study shows how self-benchmarking transcends the roles of the governors/benchmarkers and governed/benchmarked. Specifically, “Our Vision 2030” subscribes to a mainstream inclusive green growth position, which does little to distinguish the Nordic “brand” from those of other regions but instead rehearses a well-known narrative with a regional twist. The Council’s self-benchmarking apparatus thus risks ignoring evidence of negative ecological impacts and inequitable social outcomes of growth-friendly policies, as well as of the insufficient scope and pace of absolute decoupling of growth from ecological parameters to date.