THE NORDIC TURN OUTWARDS

The Nordic Co-operation and the Adjacent Area Policy


INTRODUCTION

The five Nordic countries, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark including three autonomous territories Faroe Islands, Greenland and Ĺland are engaged in an unique cultural and political co-operation, that is institutionalized in the Nordic Council and the Nordic Ministerial Council. The Nordic community has a long tradition and after the 2nd world war the countries have developed a far going regional co-operation to meet the challenges of the time and serve the Nordic interests. The Nordic co-operation has served as contributor to the well-being and balance in the Nordic region. In the world divided in two blocs the Nordic co-operation offered the third alternative.

The Nordic Co-operation was a product of its time. The changes in the world in the last decades of the 20th century, the end of cold war, the collapse of the Soviet union, the freeing of the Baltic countries and deepening EU-integration, came therefore to put a pressure on the Nordic Co-operation. The old imperatives did not seem to apply anymore and the role and function of the Nordic co-operation called for re-interpretation. One of the conclusions was that the strenghts of this co-operation were not anymore found solely inside the region but it should be directed more outwards, to the adjacent areas. Norden was now seen as a part of a bigger picture. As a result of the re-evaluations of the co-operation the Adjacent Areas and especially Baltic countries among them grew up as a big and important field of the Nordic co-operation.

Home   Introduction   The Nordic Co-operation   The Adjacent Areas in Nordic policy   Reflections on Future   Links and Literature

Created by Heidi Haggrén, University of Helsinki
E-mail: heidi.haggren@helsinki.fi

Last updated on May 21, 2001