Prospects for the Nordic Security Pattern

Abstract

Andrén, N. Prospects for the Nordic Security Pattern. Cooperation and Conflict, XIII, 1978, 181-192.

The Nordic countries responded to the Cold War division of Europe in different ways. The total effect of the different national choices of position is a pattern which, it is be lieved, has tended to reduce acute tensions between the major blocs on their 'Northern flank', in spite of its increasing significance for both military seasons, viz. Soviet naval expansion and superpower nuclear strategy, and for economic reasons, the new look on sea resources in general and oil in particular. In the present paper the global, European and Nordic conditions for the Nordic security pattern, often referred to as the 'Nordic Balance', and possible effects of future changes are discussed.