ABSTRACT
The ‘Northern Dimension’ is a Nordic/Baltic oriented vision of peaceful
co-development within the context of EU enlargement. At its most basic, it is an
attempt to develop a long-term partnership with Russia and other countries of
the former Soviet Union in order to eliminate threats to regional stability.
However, both in terms of its substantive agendas and the governance
mechanisms on which it is based, the Northern Dimension (ND) represents a
significant departure from the confrontational geopolitics that for decades
dominated this part of Europe. Since 1990, not only has the danger of outright
military conflict between Russia and the EU receded (if not vanished altogether),
but the possibilities for political interaction and social exchange have enormously
increased. As a result, ‘security’ in Europe’s North (the Baltic and Barents Sea
macroregions)1 appears to be acquiring a new, heretofore unknown, quality: a
quality that stems, among other things, from the opening of borders, the
decommissioning of nuclear weapons, and the need for economic development
and new and effective democratic institutions in the former Soviet ‘bloc’.
