1st Edition

Nordic Peace in Question A Region of and for Peace

Edited By Christopher S. Browning, Marko Lehti, Johan Strang Copyright 2025
    256 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book explores historically and theoretically Nordic peace as a marker of identification, ontological (in)security and regional branding. It emphasizes how conceptions of Nordic peace have been translated into policy practices and how it has maintained its relevance over time. 

    The book distinguishes between the Nordic region as a region of peace, a prime example of a Deutschian security community, and as a region for peace, cultivating the role of a global humanitarian norm promoter and peacebuilder, but also interrogating how these two understandings of Nordic peace have been mutually constitutive and interdependent. The book discusses the politics of ‘Nordic peace’, analyzing what the concept does and enables, and why it continues to endure and exert affective appeal. Furthermore, it considers contemporary challenges, not least connected to the implications of the war in Ukraine, but also the potential future opportunities facing ideas of Nordic peace as Nordic peace is refashioned, once again, towards a new regional and global context.

    This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of Peace Research, Nordic or Scandinavian Studies, History, Nationalism Studies, Critical Security Studies, and International Relations.

    1. Nordic Peace Revisited

    Christopher S. Browning, Marko Lehti and Johan Strang

    PART 1: A Region of Peace

    2. Nordic Peace: Identity, Brand, Branding

    Christopher S. Browning

    3. From Peace on the Scandinavian Peninsula to Nordic Peace: Geopolitical Rhetoric and Pan-Scandinavian Reconciliation

    Ruth Hemstad

    4. The Scandinavist Origins of “Nordic Peace”: Fredrik Bajer and the Peaceful Afterlife of a 19th Century Pan-Ideology

    Frederik Forrai Ørskov

    5. The Lutheran Heritage and Political Developments in the Nordic Community

    Hans Morten Haugen

    6. Nordic Peace since the End of History: Exceptionality without Distinction

    Johan Strang

    Part 2: A Region for Peace

    7. Normative Interventionism: Nordic Policies and Practices on ‘Women, Peace and Security Agenda’

    Marko Lehti

    8. The ‘Birth’ of Nordic Peacekeeping: Can It Withstand Closer Scrutiny?

    Martin Ottovay Jorgensen

    9. Humanitarian Action: Does the Nordic Model Make a Difference?

    Cecelia Lynch

    10. ‘In practice, it just happens’: How the Nordics work together within peace and conflict resolution

    Isabel Bramsen and Anine Hagemann

    11. Branding Peace: Norway's Campaign for a UN Security Council Seat

    Sigrun Marie Moss and Malcolm Langford

    Biography

    Christopher S. Browning is Reader of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, UK.

    Marko Lehti is Research Director and Senior Research Fellow at Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI) and Academic Director of the master’s programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research (PEACE), both at Tampere University, Finland.

    Johan Strang is Professor at the Centre for Nordic Studies (CENS), University of Helsinki, Finland.