ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the long-term pattern of North European foreign policies. The foreign policies of the North European countries can be viewed within different time frames. In a long-term perspective, for example the post-war era, one can point to the particular patterns of foreign policy actions undertaken. The reviews of the foreign policies of the North European nations have resulted in the identification of a number of differences among the cases. One of the major problems of finding plausible explanations for foreign policy behavior is the great many potential independent variables. Among nations of similar overall size, discrepancies between different types of national resource attributes may prove to be an important determining factor for foreign policy. Apparently, the economic structure of a nation is an important background factor for foreign economic policy. If stability in foreign policy behavior is the norm, it is interesting to focus on those cases where fundamental alterations in policy have taken place.
