I agree with your overall assessment, however I would like to point out that the Nordic countries have really enjoyed being trade and military partners with the US, so they never had to invest the scores of billions necessary to equip their militaries with advanced technologies only developed and matured in the US.
This even applies to Finland (where my mom and much of my family is from) even when Finland was not part of NATO. Finland and Poland were 2 of the only European countries who took their defense seriously after the collapse of the USSR, knowing that there would be a limited window of opportunity to acquire advanced military aerospace systems and weapons from the US. Norway has also maintained a continuous state of vigil with their defense, while most of the rest of Europe has lowered their guard substantially since the early 1990s.
All of Europe and Canada have also benefitted tremendously from US loans, Lend Lease, the Marshall Plan, military technology, transportation systems, medical devices, EMS practices and protocols, communications, protection of the shipping trade routes, trade imbalances, and a laundry list of significant developments in the last century of American expansion. None of them developed post-War in a vacuum.
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are all Constitutional Monarchies with Parliaments.
Finland is a Republic with a parliamentary representative democracy.
When a Marxist or even a peaceful liberal state how well socialism is working or has worked in the Nordics or Scandinavia, I remind them of these facts. After watching them over the past 50+ years and traveling to them or living there for extended times throughout my life, I have concluded that the Nordic countries have existed and made som progress despite socialism, not because of any application of it in their societies. The vast majorities of their parliaments are leftists loons who are clueless about what makes a nation function.
