Focusing on the Nordic states in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic and the geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the articles finds that the Nordic security community in the form of shared practices, interdependency, and peaceful expectations, ended abruptly when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Instead, securitization processes and extraordinary measures were triggered, replacing regionalism with nationalism.
In contrast, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Nordic stood united. The joint Finnish-Swedish application to NATO was accompanied by security guarantees, and joint defense statements symbolized a revived security community, overcoming past mistrust and differences. These dynamics demonstrate that even mature pluralistic security communities are not static or fully consolidated; instead, they are susceptible to internal tensions that can disrupt established norms of cooperation.
Nonetheless, such disruptions do not necessarily signal the collapse of the security community. Rather, these communities can recover and reestablish foundations of trust, collaboration, and shared identity over time.
The article “Securitization in the security community: Cooperation and conflict in the Nordic in relation to the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” is published online first in Cooperation and Conflict with Open Access:
https://doi.org/10.1177/00108367251377600
Roxanna Sjöstedts profile in Lund University research portal