Over the last decade, feelings of being left behind have grown in some regions in Europe and other Western countries. Trust in elected representatives and government institutions has declined in parts of the Western world, and the liberal democratic model appears to have come under dispute (Galston 2018, Berman 2021). This dissatisfaction may be expressed through protests and changes in voting behaviour. Recent research indicates that political discontent in Europe is more pronounced outside urban centres. The emergence of so-called "geographies of discontent" has been linked to economic stagnation and decline as well as inequalities between regions, both real and perceived (Rodríguez-Pose 2018, Florida 2021, Rhodes-Purdy et al. 2023).
The Nordic countries have not been immune to the rise in political discontent experienced in Western countries (Palonen and Sunnercrantz 2021, Chilvers et al. 2024). However, to our knowledge, there has been no systematic study of whether and how increasing rural-urban divides in living conditions play a role in creating discontent in the Nordic Region. This project synthesis aims to contribute by summarizing new research findings on this topic. The research has been carried out as part of the project “Moving together or drifting apart? Rural-urban differences in socio-economic development and public support for the green transition”, conducted by Nordregio on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers. It was the goal of the project to explore whether geographies of discontent exist in the Nordic Region and to analyse the contextual factors that may shape discontent, including the role of the green transition.
The project has been based on a review of the academic literature and has analysed spatial differences in the Nordic Region regarding demographic, social and economic factors. Regression analyses have examined links between the socio-demographic and economic contexts in which people live and their voting behaviour. To complement these findings and deepen the understanding of local discourses, a limited number of interviews with civil servants from Nordic municipalities have been conducted. Several reports and academic outputs based on this work have already been published or are forthcoming (Chilvers et al. 2024, Tapia et al. 2024, Dzhavatova et al. 2025, Tapia, forthcoming).
In the remainder of this project synthesis, we summarize findings from across the various project publications. The synthesis also presents key messages and recommendations to Nordic policymakers on how to address discontent and its drivers in the Nordic Region going forward.