ABSTRACT
The term ‘Northern Balance’ was introduced in 1966 by the Norwegian political scientist Arne Olav Brundtland to describe the foundations of the existing situation in the North of Europe.1 The phrase means two different things at the same time: on the one hand, it served as a description of the prevailing constellation including a special presence of the superpowers in the area and a description of relations between the four countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. On the other hand, the theory of ‘Northern Balance’ has also been used as a general explanatory model for the geopolitical changes in the North of Europe.
