Is the Nordic area a `zone of peace'? This article divides the concept into five elements: (1) intrastate war, (2) interstate war, (3) military intervention by outside forces, (4) military intervention by forces within the region in areas outside and (5) the overall expectations of peace within the region. Each of the elements are examined empirically and the article concludes that the Nordic area is indeed such a zone. The emergence of a zone of peace in an area which historically has seen a great deal of domestic and international war is explained by a combination of outside factors, such as the strategic importance of the area, and internal factors, such as the legitimacy of the government and the homogeneity of the population. Three broad considerations emerge from the study. Firstly, the link between democracy and peace has reinforced the Nordic peace as all the countries concerned have grown into stable democracies. Secondly, higher levels of gender equality within the Nordic countries may have also had a beneficial effect in terms of preventing violent conflict. And lastly, peaceful conflict resolutions has been accepted as the sole legitimate means of solving conflicts within the Nordic area, and this has had a marked effect on the foreign policies of the countries in the region.
The Norwegian electorate's rejection of European Union (EU) membership in November 1994 is seen here in the context of a struggle lasting 30 years or so within that country over its relations with the European integration process. The membership application by Norway to the EU is placed in the context of previous unfulfilled attempts to join the European Communities (EC), especially that terminated by a referendum in 1972. Relations with the EC since then are described, especially their culmination in the European Economic Area (EM) agreement. The negotiations with the EU are covered, as is the 1994 referendum campaign and its outcome. In the end, the 1994 vote, like that in 1972, reopened the old territorial and cultural cleavages in Norway. Copyright 1995 BPL.
Since 1991, Nordic assistance to the Baltic states, especially in the security field, has been considerable. The approaches of the four main Nordic states to this task are outlined and the reasons for such a high Nordic involvement examined. Structure-related conditioners have tended to provide opportunity for action, while the actor-related elements have mostly determined whether and which openings were taken up. These conditioners also explain the differences in the Nordic programmes, with interpretations of the countries' salient security environment being an important variable.
The US Thule Air Base in Greenland will need upgrading should President Bush's missile defence programme go ahead. This has already brought the US administration into three-sided negotiations between itself, Denmark and Greenland. The article looks at the historical background to the present negotiations and, using an adaptation of Putnam's `logic of two-level games', traces the move from one-level to two-level and three-level negotiations in previous negotiations and the ones now emerging. Over time, US dealings about their bases in Greenland have evolved from the one-level negotiations of 1941 and 1951 to the two-level game of the 1980s — with a smattering of early Greenlandic involvement — to the current three-level game. Should the US and Greenland face each other directly over the negotiating table, a new two-level game will begin with the Greenlanders in a stronger bargaining position than Denmark, according to a reading of Putnam.
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