Abstract
A decade ago, Nordic cooperation on security and defence matters gained momentum, having been largely absent from the map of Nordic cooperation during the Cold War and its aftermath. This article analyses developments along three dimensions of Nordic cooperation: military defence (focusing on the Nordic Defence Cooperation), civil security (in the form of the ‘Haga’ process), and political cooperation (through the implementation of the Stoltenberg report). Three observations stand out as a result: First, that the three dimensions are intimately related against the background of a common Nordic conceptualization of security; second, that there is simultaneously variation in significant respects (such as driving forces, scope, and degree of institutionalization); and third, that Nordic security and defence cooperation has developed in the context of European and transatlantic security dynamics and cooperation. The second part of the analysis seeks to interpret this picture from the analytical perspective of differentiated integration. The article ends with a set of reflections on the future of Nordic security and defence cooperation in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Highlights
The last decade has seen a surge in Nordic cooperation in the area of security and defence
This is all the more surprising given the absence of such cooperation during the Cold War and the different securitypolitical orientations and institutional linkages of the Nordic countries: with Norway, Denmark, and Iceland being North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members whereas Sweden and Finland remained non-aligned, and with Denmark, Finland, and Sweden being European Union (EU) members while Norway and Iceland opted for non-membership cooperation
Nordic cooperation on security and defence has developed over the last decade into a central aspect of Nordic cooperation
Summary
The last decade has seen a surge in Nordic cooperation in the area of security and defence This is all the more surprising given the absence of such cooperation during the Cold War and the different securitypolitical orientations and institutional linkages of the Nordic countries: with Norway, Denmark, and Iceland being North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members whereas Sweden and Finland remained non-aligned, and with Denmark, Finland, and Sweden being European Union (EU) members while Norway and Iceland opted for non-membership cooperation. Nordic cooperation in the context of UN peacekeeping can be understood as a way of balancing different security-political orientations (NATO membership and non-alignment, often referred to as ‘the Nordic balance’) and a common small state security identity (reflected in UN-mandated international activism). Civil defence may still feature in the text in the context of official documents and statements
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