Threats and Threat Scenarios in the North during the Cold War

To understand the cold war it is necessary to focus on geopolitics, geostrategy and varying threat scenarios. But it was also a conflict of ideology, in which both parties, with the USA and the Soviet Union at the front, were seeking to promote their own social constructions, based on their respective ideologies, and strengthen their political and military positions. In addition, mentalities were created that were characterized by fear, threats and enemy images, which to some extent were manifestations of the way in which the contending parties viewed themselves as well as their enemy. The present article deals with some aspects of the cold war threat scenarios that relate to the northern areas of Europe in general, and to North Norway in particular. First, it briefly discusses the concepts of "geopolitics" and "threat scenario" and makes an attempt to establish a kind of geopolitical status for the period in question. Second, it discusses "northern" threat images in the cold war, from an international perspective as well as from a national and local point of view. In dealing with the local perspective, the article also looks into the question of whether the cold war was experienced very differently, according to people's regional belonging or their social, political and professional backgrounds.