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.
