International Attention on New Nordic Peace
The insights from the report on New Nordic Peace. Nordic Peace and Conflict Resolution Efforts written by CRIC researchers Anine Hagemann and Isabel Bramsen are mentioned in a piece by Isak Svensson in Mänsklig Säkerhet.
The New Nordic Peace report provides an overview of how Nordic countries currently work together on peace and conflict resolution. The report examines the Nordic tradition of supporting peace and conflict resolution efforts and whether an actual Nordic Peace brand exists.
The authors find that a Nordic Peace brand, culture or tradition generally consists of two elements: core values and ways of working. As concerns core values, the report investigates how and whether mediation, dialogue, human rights, civil society and women, peace and security, can be elements of a Nordic Peace brand. As regards the ways of working together, the report demonstrates how joint Nordic work on peace and conflict is generally driven by pragmatic like-mindedness and practical solutions. The report categorizes three different types and degrees of working together: coordination, as the least integrated approach, primarily involving information sharing and trust building; cooperation, as a more ritualized yet still politically non-committal form of working together; and collaboration, as a more regular, integrated and in some cases more binding approach, where joint analysis leads to joint solutions.
The report finds that whereas there is often limited appetite for formalizing cooperation, there is a growing appetite among the Nordics to work together, both due to the practical benefits hereof but also due to geopolitical shifts in the Nordic neighbourhood, the increasing pushback against multilateralism and international norms globally. The report also suggests that whereas certain policy areas may pose greater challenges for joint efforts, the benefits of working together count the potential to increase impact and gain information and that working together is made easier by shared working cultures, values and high levels of trust among the Nordics.
Finally, the report proposes a set of recommendations regarding Nordic joint projects and potential mechanisms of working together. The report suggests two areas that are particularly prone to increased collaboration: women, peace and security, on the one hand, and preventive diplomacy on the other. The report further identifies a new trend, “non-exclusive Nordic cooperation”, where the Nordics work together along with regional and global actors, arguing that this serves as inspiration for future Nordic peace and conflict resolution efforts.