Nordische Vision – europäische Herausforderungen: 50 Jahre Nordischer Rat

Abstract

This article aims at placing cooperation between the Nordic countries within the framework of the Nordic Council in a longer historical perspective. The question if the Council was a child of its time can best be answered by taking into account some general conditions such as ideological roots dating back to the 19th century and its institutional predecessors. The paper takes up the geopolitical context as well as the ambiguities inside the region itself. It focuses in particular on the challenges of the past 15 years and the process of reforming and reorganizing the structures of cooperation that consequently emerged. As the 50th anniversary of the Nordic Council celebrated in autumn 2002 showed, this process and the identity crisis which is connected to it have not yet come to an end.