The Arctic, Baltic, and North-Atlantic ‘cooperative regions’ in ‘Wider Northern Europe’: similarities and differences

ABSTRACT

This article provides a broader perspective on the ‘wider’ Northern European regions – i.e. the Baltic Sea, North Atlantic, and (European) Arctic – and attempts to disclose both similarities and differences of regional cooperation. The article argues that the changing environmental state of the Arctic might influence the other two international cooperative regions of the Northern Hemisphere in regard to climate – and thus the ecology – as well as transport and security issues. First, the transition from the confrontation of the Cold War period to international cooperation in ‘wider’ northern Europe is assessed. Second, the twofold development of the Arctic due to national policies within, and growing global pressure over, the region is explored. Third, similarities and differences in terms of cooperation patterns involving the three cooperative regions are compared. The article argues that inter-linkages between the Baltic Sea, North Atlantic, and Arctic regions need to be explored in order to improve cooperation in the entire ‘mega-region’ of the European Arctic.

KEYWORDS:

• Arctic region
• Baltic Sea region
• North Atlantic region
• European Arctic
• EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea region
• regional cooperation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This Nordic – Baltic institutional cooperation is also described by the following equation with three acronyms: N5+B3 = NB8, N5 means the five Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), B3 the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and NB8 is these eight states together.

2. A new charter was adopted in the current West Nordic Council in 1997.

3. In the Cold War period, there was both the North Calotte cooperation between the northernmost counties of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and the North Calotte’s Peace days between the above-mentioned counties and the Murmansk region of the Soviet Union.

4. There are also some voices in the Nordic parliaments calling for the definition of a greater Nordic region, including the Baltic Sea region and the European Arctic, as a new geopolitical context.

5. For example, Northern/Arctic issues have been discussed in several international conferences in Riga organized by the University of Latvia. The former President of Latvia, Vike-Freiberga, was a member of the Honorary Board of the Northern Research Forum.

6. Based on the Regional Seas Agreement, as cooperative intergovernmental frameworks for maritime management and conservation, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Northeast Atlantic, are interpreted to be ‘regional seas’ (Yeager 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lassi Heininen

Lassi Heininen is a professor of Arctic Politics at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, Finland. He is Adjunct Professor at Trent University (Canada), Visiting Professor at University of Akureyri (Iceland), and Director of International Summer School in Karelia at Petrozavodsk State University (Russia). He is also Head of Thematic Network on Geopolitics and Security Studies, and the Editor of the Arctic Yearbook.