Nordic Secret 2.0

Self-organizing society

From Ukraine to Gaza and in many other places around the globe there is a dire need for new ways of rebuilding, for financing it, and for organizing local communities and economies.

Or maybe there is a need for some tested models that empower people in democratic structures and promote true societal development.

Self-organization has a long tradition in the Nordics, and this workshop series will introduce you to five areas of economic and societal self-organization:

  • loan associations,
  • health insurance societies,
  • cooperatives,
  • coordination between unions and employers,
  • affordable housing.
  • Plus Steward owned companies

Nordic Secret 2.0 takes you through 6 sessions of 2½ hours each. There is 30 minutes of preparation before each session, and the sessions are a combination of presentations, discussions, and group exercises.

This series will mainly focus on Denmark, it is a bit technical, but it will be accessible to any dedicated social activist or policy maker.

Tested by History: Self-organization before the welfare state

Beginning in the late 1800s and through the 1930s, when many Europeans fell for authoritarianism, farmers and workers in the Nordic countries self-organized and shaped society through their own actions.

Farmers were self-organized in cooperatives; workers and employers agreed to disagree in mutual respect and to cooperate with the government.

As Europe sank into darkness, self-organization kept the democratic spirit alive in the Nordics.

The Nordic countries are often characterized as socialist countries. In fact, the Nordic economies are capitalist economies, and, historically, local economic self-organization laid the foundation for the Nordic welfare states, not the other way around.

This, unfortunately, is a well kept secret and we call it Nordic Secret 2.0.

Nordic Secret 2.0 online

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Host & teacher: Lene Rachel Andersen, author of The Nordic Secret

2026 price: €149
If you are not in Europe, Canada, or the US, please contact us for a discount.

March-April
19:00-21:30 CET

  • Session 1: Mar. 9
  • Session 2: Mar. 16
  • Session 3: Mar. 23
  • Session 4: Mar. 30
  • Session 5: Apr. 6
  • Session 6: Apr. 13
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Aug.-Sept. 10:00-12:30 CET

  • Session 1: Aug. 12
  • Session 2: Aug. 19
  • Session 3: Aug. 26
  • Session 4: Sept. 2
  • Session 5: Sept. 9
  • Session 6: Sept. 16
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Oct.-Nov.
19:00-21:30 CET

  • Session 1: Oct. 13
  • Session 2: Oct. 20
  • Session 3: Oct. 27
  • Session 4: Nov. 3
  • Session 5: Nov. 10
  • Session 6: Nov. 17
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Session 1: Loan associations for housing

In 1795, much of Copenhagen burned down and people needed a way to finance new homes. By 1797, some clever Danes came up with a concept for collectively financing with mutural ownership of the debt and the property: the loan association.

The system is still in place and keeps the interest rate on mortgages below market average, allows 30-year amortisation, and affordable ownership.

We will also discuss whether and how this model might work if we want to start it in other parts of the world today.

You will get:

One of the core explanations why the Danish housing market is stable and homes are still affordable.

Insights into how this model might benefit other parts of the world today.

Session 2: Healt insurance societies

This model is not unique to Denmark, by no means! In fact, it used to be widespread across Europe and was the precursor for the welfare state public health care systems.

You will get:

An understanding of self-organized solidarity and the origins of one of the core elements of modern health care systems.

Session 3: Cooperatives

From dairies to cheese-factories and egg-shipping associations, slaughtering-plants, banks, stores, insurance societies and much more, the cooperative has shaped some of the most successful societies—and we never hear about this part of history. Neither in history classes, nor studying economics.

This session will explain the cooperative model, how it works, and its strengths and weaknesses.

You will get:

The knowledge you need to start planning a copperative.

Session 4: The Nordic model

In 1899, Danish workers and employers agreed to disagree and to recognize the other party’s right to have their special interests: Employers recognized the workers’ rights to unionize and go on strike; the workers recognized the employers’ right to own the means of production and to lock-out the workers in case of a conflict. And they both agreed that constant strikes and lockouts were bad for everybody, and it would be wiser to reach agreements on wages without involving the government.

They invented the Tripartite Negotiations, or The Danish Model, which was soon copied in Norway, Sweden, and Finland and became The Nordic Model.

You will get:

An understanding of the Danish flexicurity model and why Denmark has livable wages while there is no official minimum wage.

Session 5: Affordable housing

Photo: https://bl.dk/viden-kartotek/pressefotos/ Boligselskabernes Landsforening / Danmarks Almene Boliger

25% of Danes live in ‘affordable housing,’ which means rental apartments or rowhouses that are state funded, built by certified housing companies, and with tennant democracy.

The affordable housing sector keeps the government in the rental apartment “market” for the financing of affordable housing but not as a rent regulator or landlord; it keeps the standard of apartments up and the prices down by building not-for-profit.

Social wellfare rent subsidies for the individual tennant is the same for private and affordable housing.

You will get:

An understanding of how to collectively provide an alternative to the for-profit housing solutions without the government being the landlord.

Session 6: Steward owned companies

Some of the biggest Danish companies are owned (or at least the majority of stocks are owned) by a foundation that has another purpose than profit. Typically, they then spend the money on scientific research, the arts, or social causes. Among the Danish steward owned companies are Carlsberg and Novo Nordisk, which are some of the biggest contributors to Danish science, and Carlsberg to the arts as well. They could also benefit nature.

Steward owned companies are not exactly “self-organized”, so they don’t quite fit into the topic of this course. Yet they do represent an alternative way of organizing the economy and they have come up in previous sessions, so now they are part of this course too.

You will get:

An understanding of how companies can be set up to serve society rather than mere profit.