NATO and the Northern Region : Security and Arms Control

The present paper attempts to provide a framework for assessing the security challenges in the Northern Region of Europe within the context of a post-cold war order. Specific threats have been replaced by unspecific dangers. They are related primarily to the uncertainties involved in the imperial dissolution in the Soviet Union. The northern states of Nordic Europe are likely to seek protection in linkage to the European Community, by making Nordic-Russian relations an aspect of Russia's relations with the European Community. The paper examines the implications of on-going processes of arms control for coupling between northern Europe and the security order in Europe at large. The absence of naval arms control constitutes a particular difficulty. The paper ends by calling for a broad vision approach to the reconstruction of Europe