The Nordic Model as a Foreign Policy Instrument: Its Rise and Fall

Abstract

This article hypothesizes that the `Nordic' model of society is primarily of Swedish origin, with the other Nordic countries as its first tier of followers. The idea of Nordic `progressivity' has been a useful instrument in individual Nordic foreign policies - primarily as a `bastion' in official rhetoric. Postwar examples of such usefulness are offered from three settings: the Nordic countries as a group in multilateral diplomacy, individual Nordic countries in multilateral diplomacy, and Nordic countries bilaterally in dealings with a great power. Whereas the Nordic bastion could still serve as a useful foreign policy instrument, it has actually been discreetly abandoned from 1991, as part of a deliberate policy on the part of Sweden. The symbol of stable innovation in Northern Europe is gone. The main reason for this abandonment lies in perceived Swedish national interests: how Sweden has chosen to adapt to the European Union. Domestic Swedish party polemics may also have played a (secondary) role. This abandonment has generally adverse implications for the foreign policies of the other Nordic countries, depending on which all-European scenario prevails. Prospects for a future revival of the Nordic bastion do not seem bright.