CH-ULisboa Conference
Nordic Peace in the High North: Lessons from Arctic Trust-Building

[Versão Portuguesa]

Speaker: Gunnar Rekvig (CH-ULisboa / Ocean Policy Research Institute at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation)

September 25, 2024 (5 p.m.)

School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon (Auditorium III)

Organisation | CH-ULisboa

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Title for the presentation

Nordic Peace in the High North: Lessons from Arctic Trust-Building

Abstract

The presentation explores the concept of the Nordic Peace and its relevance to current challenges in the Circumpolar Arctic. The central pillars of the Nordic Peace, conflict resilience, compromise, and cooperation, will be emphasized in how the Nordic Countries have organized themselves internally and regionally in order to achieve peace and stability. Trust and trust-building activities in the Cold War will be used to highlight the success of the Nordic Peace in relation to how the Nordic countries balanced deterrence with reassurance vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. These activities led to fostering conflict resilience that brought about a low-tension Northern Europe in a time of otherwise high Global tensions. From the trust built between adversaries in the Cold War, a highly successful governance framework for peaceful coexistence was established: the Barents Euro-Arctic Cooperation, which encompasses northern parts of Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Northwest Russia. Or rather, it was successful until the War in Ukraine broke out, and the hard-won peace is now under threat. As we find ourselves in an unstable post-post-Cold War period with renewed nuclear tensions, diplomatic challenges, on top of climate change, we should at this critical juncture re-remember models of the past that offered avenues for conflict resolution such as the Nordic Peace.