Present and Future Security Challenges in Northern Europe

Abstract

Abstract : Few decades in recent history have witnessed deeper changes to the Euro-Atlantic state system than the 1990s. The Cold War ended in a way no one ever expected with equally unexpected results. Novel European, Euro-Atlantic, and global power relations emerged quickly as new dynamics came to the fore. All actors: institutions, states, and private subjects strive to capitalize on improvements, exploit opportunities or compensate when anticipated changes threaten the status quo. In the prevailing rhetoric, such events and developments are described as achievements of goals long since established, as improvements leaving regretful pasts further and further behind. This Strategic Research Paper argues that these changes have indeed been impressive, but finds the assumption of a steady progress towards final perfection dubious. The post-Cold War era revived several pre-Cold War issues, contributing to a more complex global situation. This is particularly valid with respect to Northern Europe-Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Nordic issues seldom arise in contemporary debate and diplomacy in Europe. For decades, the region has been considered a harmonious part of the world, indeed a model with respect to social security, democracy, and intra-state cooperation, presenting few complexities beyond the East-West confrontation. The Cold War, with its European and global realities, was waged in Nordic countries, as it was elsewhere. Lack of international attention does not imply, however, that post-Cold War changes in Northern Europe have been insignificant, or that the region was unaffected by the larger changes. The Nordic countries now find themselves confronted with far more complex challenges than generally perceived inside or outside of the region.