Nordic cooperation and region building:
Nordic cooperation and region building
This page provides articles about the formal bodies of the Nordic region, such as the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, and the many interesting and diverse informal and unofficial networks that are perhaps less easy to identify. While acknowledging the similarities and a common history that binds the region together, it is not intended that internal variation and complexity be overlooked. New articles are added regularly.
2020.07.17 | Film, Byron Zachary Rom-Jensen, Region-building, Nation building, Public policy
Film: The Nordic Model: A Complex Concept
The Nordic Model’ is a concept that appears frequently in scholarship, media reports, and public debates to refer to the socio-political organization and progressive values of the Nordic countries. While the concept has been applied since at least the 1980s, it lacks a standard definition and thus is open to variation and alteration. The term has…
2020.07.07 | Podcast, Anders Ravn Sørensen, Kazimierz Musiał, Larisa Kangaspuro, Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha, Mads Mordhorst, Michael Bennedsen-Hansen, Nicola Witcombe, Norbert Götz, Nation building
Podcast: The Nordics and Identity
From the outside, it is assumed that the populations of the Nordic countries are fairly homogeneous and that there is a relatively high level of gender equality and acceptance of different sexualities and diversity. In short, identity is not much of a problem. On closer examination, however, there are similar tendencies to elsewhere, such as more…
2020.05.20 | Podcast, Simon Mølholm Olesen, The Borders of the Nordics, Region-building
Podcast: The Danish decolonisation of Greenland, 1945-54
Listen to an account of the Danish decolonisation of Greenland in either English or Danish! This podcast is part of a series where existing material on nordics.info is read out in assorted languages by colleagues and friends. Great for learning Danish or English. / Lyt til historien om Grøndlands afkolonialisering på engelsk eller dansk! Denne…
2020.04.21 | Article, Francesco Zavatti, The Borders of the Nordics, Cooperation, Architecture & design
A short history of the Oresund Bridge
A globally renowned icon, the bridge is in fact part rail/road bridge and part tunnel spanning the Oresund (or ‘The Sound’) between Denmark and Sweden. It was completed in 2000, but it has a rather long and convoluted history. It is a symbol of many and sometimes opposing things: Nordic cooperation in the economy and engineering, as well as the…
2020.02.25 | Article, Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha, The Nordics in the World, Region-building
An overview of Denmark and its integration with Europe, 1940s to the Maastricht Treaty in 1993
Denmark has been a cautious participant of European supranational integration since the Second World War, evaluating the pros and cons of integration, and making the decision to ‘opt in’ when there were benefits. The driving force behind Denmark's accession to the EEC was the desire to become part of an open European economy, rather than support…
2019.12.17 | Film, Nicola Witcombe, Branding, Region-building, The Nordic Model
Film: Why talk about the Nordics as a region?
Are the Nordic countries really that similar to one another? - Or different from the rest of the world? Is discussion of 'the Nordics' simply a branding exercise, or can it be a useful analytical lens? Join Nicola Witcombe, the editor of nordics.info, in a brief exploration of the some of the ways people talk about the Nordics. This is the first…
2019.11.22 | Article, Helge Ø. Pharo, Cooperation, Region-building
Nordic Cooperation 1947 – 1960: a Norwegian perspective
Immediately before and after the Nordic Council was founded in 1952, there was much debate over what form cooperation should take amongst the Scandinavian/Nordic countries, primarily with respect to the economy and defence. Norway’s attempts to support a customs union/common market in 1947, 1950 and 1954 belied its repeated blocking of initiatives…
2019.11.13 | The Quick Read, Peter Yding Brunbech, Cooperation, Region-building
Nordic Economic Union (NORDEK): a Danish perspective
The NORDEK plan (so called due to the Swedish name for Nordic Economic Union (NORDiskt EKonomiskt samarbete)) grew out of a Danish initiative to create a Nordic common market. The plan attracted much attention in the years 1967-70. It was the last serious attempt to create a comprehensive Nordic political and economic organisation of cooperation.…
2019.09.18 | The Quick Read, Agnes Arnórsdóttir, Nation building, Region-building
History of Iceland, Vikings to early 19th century
Iceland was a largely uninhabited island in the northern Atlantic Ocean where Norsemen settled around 870. It began as a ‘free state’ but became a Norwegian province in the years 1262/64. As a dependency of Norway, Iceland came under the Danish-Norwegian Crown in 1380 and was in reality a Danish dependency from 1660. During the course of the 19th…
2019.08.27 | The Quick Read, Susanna Fellman, Economy, Region-building
The Nordic countries and economic integration
As small, open economies, all the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway and Sweden) have been well integrated in the regional and international economy. There have been moves to further intra-Nordic integration, such as, the NORDEK project in 1960s and the establishment of Nordic companies. Each of the five countries has had differing…