This paper argues that the conceptual pairing of Nordic penality with welfarism reflects an idealized image of the relation between state and citizen.
To explain the power to punish with a view to include and rehabilitate citizens gives but a partial view of the actors, discourses, policies, and practices that motivate the power to punish under the global condition. Analysis of criminalization processes at the global level emphasise the significance of transnational power networks, such as human rights organizations, lawyers, and police networks. Moreover, the nation-state is under strain. Triggered by (threats of) migration flows, the penal welfare state is demarcating ‘inwards’ as punishment takes on a ‘bordered nature’, with an inclusive approach to rehabilitation reserved citizens of the nation-state in contrast to the ‘criminal foreigner’ who is punished and expelled. However, there is also expansion ‘outwards’, and which is much less explored: Up until last year, Norway rented prisons cells from The Netherlands, transferring prisoners and jurisdiction alike into foreign state territory. At present, Sweden is spearheading a European initiative to create an international court in Syria to enable prosecution of so-called foreign fighters and European nationals at-a-distance, suggestion a disconnection between crime, punishment, and the nation-state.