Changing Security Dynamics in the Nordics

Summary

The War in Ukraine has caused a great upheaval for the existing European security architecture. The ripple effect has been most salient in the Nordic States as Denmark, Finland, and Sweden abandoned security stances that were considered far-fetched just months ago. For Denmark, the revision of the EU defense opt-out leads to a more coherent EU defense cooperation. However, as Peter Viggo Jakobsen shows, it obfuscates a feeling of general content on the overall security situation and a complacency when it comes to increasing its defensive capacities. Across the Kattegat, Gunilla Herolf observes that Sweden is abandoning its long tradition of non-alignment (and previously a neutrality policy). Although it had been inching closer to NATO since 2014,  its full accession is to have a drastic effect as it provides the alliance with critical strategic depth to the alliance. As a result of this NATO will be more able to protect the Baltic states and to dominate the Baltic Sea.  Lastly, Hanna Ojanen explains how Finish defense policy has always been about Russia.