Change and Continuity in North European Security: Finland and Sweden’s Membership in NATO

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the change and continuity in Northern European Security after Finland and Sweden’s membership processes in NATO. With this purpose, firstly I examined the history of the countries in the region to detect possible continuities in their relations. Russia’s lack of respect for the sovereignty of its neighbors since 2008 and lastly the occupation of Ukraine forced Finland and Sweden to leave their long-lasting non-aligned status and caused to invalidate the concept of ‘Finlandization’. This study secondly focuses on this radical change’s effect on the security understanding of Northern Europe with a concentration on the role of NATO. The findings of this article put forward that recent NATO enlargement is vital for regional states to be able to counter Russia through uniting countries except Russia in the Baltic and Arctic. Russia is applying ‘hybrid war’ tactics as an unreliable regional power and it has been stuck in Ukraine since February 2022. NATO must learn from the Russia-Ukraine War and prepare against Russia’s conventional superiority over its neighboring states and the usage of asymmetrical means since no one may guarantee that Russia’s next steps will not violate the sovereignty of other regional states.