Север и рынок. 2013, N 3.

political and economic integration trends. International migration and demographic change, globalization and European integration, more open economies, changes in the class structure and some ideological and political currents have had a visible impact on the master dimensions o f the Nordic welfare state. Although the state is still the main financier o f welfare services, extensive stateless is giving way to more private endeavors and competition within and outside the public sector. This holds especially true at the local level. Furthermore, although universalism has continued to be the backbone o f the Scandinavian welfare state in the last two decades there has, for instance, been a very visible shift towards a more income-related benefit system. Inequality has tended to increase and especially those at the top o f the income scale have succeeded in getting a greater share. At the same time, what has come to be known as the ‘Scandinavian’ or ‘Nordic welfare model’ has attracted growing attention in international mass media and, intergovernmental organizations - although hardly with enthusiastic blessing from any o f them, but more so in the social policy literature. Important elements o f this model are comprehensive governmental welfare provision; the scale of welfare employment (broadly speaking); public employment relative to total employment; redistribution; financing mainly from fiscal revenues; family policies and a gender perspective that encourages women to participate in the labour market; an active labour market policy; high legitimacy o f state/public welfare provision; and universal, citizenship-based social rights. While the Nordic welfare states differ in many respects, they can be said to be sufficiently similar on a number o f counts to make them a distinct category or ‘family’ o f welfare states in the world. O f course the so called welfare miracle o f the countries o f the European North could not be explained without taking into consideration o f their prehistorical conditions of formation but it is not in the focus o f the present article. Discussing the economic and political regional international processes it is important to make an observation o f regional international organizations foundations in the Northern Europe. There were several as time shows successful projects o f creation of international organizations with multipurpose aims, the following list is going to illustrate the wide range o f the present organizations: 1. The Arctic Council (19.09. 1996); Constant members: Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Russia, USA, Sweden and a number o f Non-Governmental Organizations. Countries-memebers are called as circumpolar countries as their territories partly are placed in the Arctic circumpolar zone o f the Earth, the territory with the center at the North Pole. Observers: Could be non-Arctic countries, Non­ Governmental Organizations. Now there are Great Britain, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, France. For these countries the participation the Arctic Council work is determined by their interests (geopolitical and strategic) in the Arctic region; Aims: Promotion the cooperation in the sphere o f environmental protection and providing o f stable development of Polar Regions. 2. Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) (11.01.1993); Constant members: Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Finland, Sweden and European Commission; Norway holds the chairmanship for the period 2011-2013; Observers: Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Poland, France, USA and Japan; Aims: Assistance to stable development o f the region and multisided cooperation in the spheres of economy, trading, science and techniques, environment, infrastructure, education and cultural exchanges, tourism as well as realization o f projects devoted to indigenous peoples support. 3. The Nordic Council (1952); The Council has 87 elected members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as from the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Aland; Aims: The Nordic Council was established to meet the need for closer Nordic co-operation in the wake o f WWII. Now there are several operating committees : Culture, Education and Training Committee; Citizens' and Consumer Rights Committee; The Environment and Natural Resources Committee; Business and Industry Committee; Welfare Committee; Control Committee. C ouncil works annually to discuss different political issues and it finances several institutions operating in the Northern Europe. 4. The Nordic Council o f ministers (1971); Observers: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been members o f the Nordic Council o f Ministers since 1971. Secretariat is placed in Copenhagen (Denmark). In addition, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Aland have also increased their representation and position in the Nordic Council o f Ministers, with the same representation as the above mentioned countries. Aims: The purpose o f inter-governmental co-operation in the Nordic Council of Ministers is to work toward joint Nordic solutions that have tangible positive effects - Nordic synergies - for the citizens o f the individual Nordic countries. Besides that within the partnership the countries take part in cooperation in the spheres o f environmental protection, health care and social welfare, science and culture, education and some others. 5. The Northern Dimension o f European Union (The ND Policy was initiated in 1999 and renewed in 2006). Observers: In addition to the four ND Partners namely EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland, also 72