The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

2 THE NORDIC COUNTRIES AND THE ESDPSvalbard(Norway)Greenland(Denmark)Jan Mayen(Norway)Nuuk(Godthåb)ICELANDReykjavíkFaroe Islands(Denmark)Arctic CircleNORWAYOsloSWEDENFINLANDStockholmHelsinkiDENMARKCopenhagenMap of the Nordic countries and associated territoriescommon or parallel features in the challenges they face and could face in futureas the EU’s security and defence policies continue to evolve. The analysis inthese sections is supplemented by tables I.1–I.4, which contain facts about theNordic countries, their institutional relationships and their armed forces anddefence industries.Features of parallelism and convergence among the Nordic countries can, ofcourse, be both ‘positive’ and ‘negative’. They include a shared concept of ‘theNorth’ or ‘Norden’ 3 and shared values and interests that provide a valuableinput to the process of European policy generation and execution. They alsoinclude possible shared ‘hang-ups’, relative weaknesses and problems of adjustment.The emphasis in much of the rest of this introduction is on probing thelatter, but it is no part of the author’s wish to do less than justice to the former.The interesting question is whether the Nordic countries’ way of proceeding inreal-life institutional settings—of which the ESDP is now among the mostimportant—has been calculated to best effect for projecting and realizing suchcommon values; exploiting common assets and skills; and thus ensuring that the3 The term ‘Norden’—literally, ‘the North’ in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (the equivalent Finnishand Icelandic terms being ‘Pohjoismaat’ and ‘Norurland’, respectively)—is used as shorthand for the5 countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (i.e., the members of the Nordic Council).