ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the means used by the North European political elites to manage their immediate regional environment. The objective of the collective management effort is to facilitate the transnational flows, that is, grease the hinges, as each society has come to depend on them for continued affluence and prosperity. The chapter identifies the regional actors involved in the collective management effect. National and Nordic officials, politicians, ministers and parliamentarians are all participants in this process of joint policy-making. The national and Nordic actors in the parliamentary sphere meet regularly in the five Standing Committees of the Nordic Council, the Presidium, the annual session, and in several other select forums. The most intensive interactions take place among the national civil servant who handle the day-to-day activities of Nordic cooperation in their ministry or governmental agency. The chapter discusses the forms of regional interaction among the various actors involved in the collective management process.
