This article, is based upon, and was first delivered as the Inaugural Professorial Lecture of Lee Miles in association with his inauguration as Professor of Political Science at Karlstad University (17th September 2009). The article attempts to discuss four aspects. First, the author argues that there is today a serious disparity between the practical realities of contemporary Swedish politics and the continued discussions among the country's political elites, as well as between scholars, on the resonance of Sweden as a 'model society' with a distinctive 'Swedish model'. Second, he then explores three themes that explain the path dependency of the traditional social-democratic inspired paradigm of a Swedish model, and its increasingly changing nature, with a particular emphasis on the long term trends affecting Sweden since the 1990s. Third, Lee Miles argues that the period since the victory of the non-socialist Alliance bloc in 2006 may represent the beginning of a critical juncture in Swedish politics and new attempts to re-engineer not just the political ground but also the political narratives underpinning any (future) Swedish model. Fourth, and in this context, Lee Miles envisages that the 2010 General Election has the potential to become another important watershed in Swedish contemporary politics

This article examines the reception of Old Norse literature and culture in the literatures of the Scottish islands of Orkney and Shetland. It compares in particular the work of Shetland author James John Haldane Burgess (1862-1927) and the Orcadian author George Mackay Brown (1921-1996) and it evaluates the ways in which these two figures use their geographically peripheral positions as unique vantage points from which to reframe Nordic identity in their writing. By re-orientating the Scottish Islands from the periphery of Britain to the centre of important scenes in Nordic history, Haldane Burgess and Mackay Brown each construct a distinctive sense of geographical and cultural place. This approach allows the boundaries of the Nordic cultural sphere to be extended, and for a new and complex third space to emerge, in which the islands connect the Nordic and Anglo-Celtic realms and situate them within world literature.

This article focuses on the reception of Nordic literature in the literatures of the Scottish islands of Orkney and Shetland. It introduces the work of Shetland author James John Haldane Burgess (1862-1927) and the Orcadian author George Mackay Brown (1921-1996), evaluating in what ways both writers usse their geographically peripheral position as a unique vantage point from which to reframe Nordic literature. By re-orientating the Scottish Islands from the periphery of Britain to the centre of important scenes in Nordic history, the two authors construct a new sense of both geographical and cultural place. This approach allows the modern boundaries of the Nordic world to be extended, and for a new and complex third space to emerge, where the islands form a connection between the Nordic and Anglo-Celtic realms.