University of Oslo

Listen to a podcast on how Nordic cooperation works through politicians, civil servants and civil society, and how it is often more driven by self-interest than at first appears.

The 1974 Nordic Environmental Protection Convention was the first international environmental convention of its kind. While Nordic cooperation and like-mindedness allowed the Convention to become a reality, the Nordic states had their sights set on extending key environmental principles to polluting states outside the region. In fact, the Convention was intended as a blueprint for future international conventions on reducing transboundary pollution – an ambition that has been partially realised. Given the increasing focus on the environment and global climate change today, it is worth revisiting the concrete commitment of the Nordic states and the three key principles of this pioneering – if not wholly successful – convention.

From the 1830s to the 1920s about 800,000 Norwegians emigrated, mostly to America. There is less general awareness of the fact that between 100,000 and 200,000 people immigrated to Norway during the second half of the 19th century. The migrants came largely from Sweden, but also from other parts of Europe. Moreover, the population was on the move within the country's borders - between regions, counties and municipalities.

Listen to a podcast on how gender is used as a tool in branding the Nordics.

Today the environment is a key policy issue of institutionalised Nordic cooperation. Yet it was only in the late 1960s that the environment emerged on the Nordic agenda. Its emergence was influenced by the so-called ‘ecological turn’ at the time, but economic considerations were by far the most decisive. Firstly, policy-makers were concerned that the introduction of environmentally-friendly measures may hit them where it hurt: They would be likely to create an economic deficit at a time when increased integration was the main focus - with its associated removal of trade barriers - be it at the Nordic or European level. Secondly, it made practical and economic sense to work together on complex and costly scientific research and decision-making to do with the environment. Ultimately, the Nordic Environmental Protection Convention signed in 1974 was the first international environmental treaty that implemented the polluter-pays principle for transboundary pollution.

Listen to a podcast on the attitude to online risk of caregivers, teachers and children in the Nordics.

The Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) was in power when the country was transformed into a wealthy society with modern welfare in the decade following the Second World War. However, the other parties supported major parts of the social democratic project as well. Reform-driven policy, planned modernisation and rapid economic growth were key issues for the Labour government and ensured strong, stable and continuous support for the party in the post-war years. In line with developments in the rest of north western Europe, the social democratic project aimed to combine economic planning and governance with political freedom and personal initiative.

The vision of a welfare community that provided the people with social security from ‘cradle to grave’ was largely realised in the period between 1945 and 1970. The development of a Norwegian welfare state was part of broader international commitments to meet the need for social security in a modern society – with roots dating back to the late nineteenth century.

The term ’bridge-building’ is often used to describe Norwegian foreign policy from the tail end of the Second World War until Norway's turn to the West in early 1948. Even though the term is ambiguous at best, it now occupies an established place in Norwegian historiography, and reflects the perceived position of Norway between East and West in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The term points to the Norwegian desire to help maintain a workable post-war relationship between the wartime allies.

Swedish foreign policy has long been engaged in issues relating to gender. This was cemented in 2014 by the launch of its Feminist Foreign Policy which has been heralded as ground-breaking and the most comprehensive of its kind. It allows for a systematic mainstreaming of gender throughout the whole Foreign Ministry and in all aspects of foreign policy, along with an increased emphasis on concrete results. The Swedish government has however been criticized for, for example, hypocrisy as they continue to be involved in arms trading.