Nordic States and European Integration: Awkward Partners in the North? (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics)

This book provides the first lengthy study of awkward states/partners in regional integration. Is awkwardness a characteristic of states in many global regions, or is it reducible to the particular case of the United Kingdom in European integration? The authors assess how far the concept of 'awkwardness' can travel, and apply it to the cases of the Nordic States' involvement in and with the European Union - Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway. The renewed interest in the Nordic region is in part thanks to recent events in the on-going crisis of European integration, and particular its member states' response to the refugee question, which appears to be undermining years of intra-regional solidarity even between the Nordic countries. The security dimension of the region further broadens the book's readership beyond Nordic Politics specialists to IR scholars, as the Nordic countries share borders with Russia and are key players in the Baltic Sea Strategy seeking to involve Russia in looser forms of regional cooperation. -- From publisher's website Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Awkward Partners in the North? (Malin Stegmann McCallion, Alex Brianson)....Pages 1-11 As Awkward as They Need to Be: Denmark’s Pragmatic Activist Approach to Europe (Anders Wivel)....Pages 13-34 Re-Assessing Finland’s Integration Policy: The End of Domestic Consensus? (Hanna Ojanen, Tapio Raunio)....Pages 35-58 Swedish Awkwardness à La Carte? The Difference a Question Mark Can Make (Malin Stegmann McCallion)....Pages 59-78 From ‘Awkward Partner’ to ‘Awkward Partnership’? Explaining Norway’s Paradoxical Relations with the European Union (Stefan Gänzle, Thomas Henökl)....Pages 79-102 Iceland: The Dominant Party in Thrall to Its Past Discourse (Baldur Thorhallsson)....Pages 103-127 Conclusions—Awkward Nordics and the Study of Regional Integration (Alex Brianson)....Pages 129-139 Back Matter ....Pages 141-143