WELBOUND

WELBOUND addresses the socio-cultural foundations of the management of collective goods and argues that we need to rewrite the welfare state and its sustainability. Historically, the continued growth of expectations is an essential aspect of the moral contract between the population and its representatives. Today, concern and discourse about the need to “adjust expectations” dominate. In WELBOUND, we challenge this assumption and hypothesize that the power of expectations speaks to the politics of trust, not only through the generosity of the welfare state, but rather through the constitution of social commitments that enable power and influence in local communities. 

These insights, highly relevant for understanding the links between universalism and sustainability, will be explored through the main research question: How is the management of collective goods negotiated and legitimized in the Norwegian welfare society?

The recent best-selling book The Country That Got Too Wealthy (Holte, 2025) critiques the welfare state growing out of proportion. Norwegian news media have echoed apocalyptic warnings about the welfare state’s sustainability and viability, suggesting that increasing demands could strain the social contract. Headlines like “[…]Today’s welfare spiral is dangerous for the economy and detrimental to the national spirit” (Skavlan, 2018) reflect these concerns. However, is the insistence on comprehensive social security—for parental leave, sick pay, and dental coverage—truly excessive or catastrophic? In WELBOUND, we challenge this discourse and hypothesize that the power of expectations speaks to the politics of trust, not only through the generosity of the welfare state, but rather through the constitution of social commitments that enable power and influence in local communities. Through exploring the dynamics of mutual commitments within the Norwegian welfare society WELBOUND aims to identify and explain sustainable forms of managing collective goods, and to develop a theoretical framework, arguments and critical vocabulary to conceptualize the ways in which the management of collective goods is negotiated and legitimized in the welfare society. WELBOUND will challenge conventional wisdom about good governance and the sustainability of the welfare state. The project aims to reframe the discourse on welfare state sustainability by nuancing and moving beyond current public discourses, which tend to frame welfare state sustainability in terms of lowering costs and expectations, while providing for more efficient governance and greater control.