ABSTRACT
With the end of the Cold War, the map of Europe expanded and new political regions were formed. The codification of the European Union and the political space it came to occupy included a new opportunity for political relations with Russia and a European, rather than Nordic, notion of the social welfare state. Using the Peace of Westphalia as a point of departure, it also revisits historical aspects of Westphalian politics and prevailing assumptions of international relations theory. Placing the Westphalian political system in historical perspective requires a lens by which to approach history more generally. The Treaty of Westphalia initiated a new political order in central Europe based on the concept of state sovereignty. It also provided the means to divide the globe into bounded territories. The Arctic was not immune to these events and the accompanying view of global politics. The Westphalian narrative of the Arctic is a history of European discovery, colonization, nation-building and Cold War politics.
