Behind the Re-emergence of the “Nordic Voice” in the United Nations

In February 2026, Nordic government ministers met in Denmark to discuss expanding the Helsinki Treaty, which has served as the framework for Nordic cooperation for the last 50 years, to include Greenland, along with two other autonomous territories

"The times we live in call for closer Nordic cooperation and more Nordic values," the minister of one territory said in a statement. This consolidation of the diplomatic Nordic identity reflects the region's growing power in European security. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Nordic states sought closer ties with both each other and their neighbors, partnering with the Baltic states to pledge military support to Ukraine.

But the Nordic voice hasn't always spoken so loudly on the international stage. In 2003, Katie Laatikainen, PhD, professor and chair of Adelphi's Department of Political Science and International Relations, published "Norden's Eclipse: The Impact of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy on the Nordic Group in the United Nations" (Cooperation and Conflict), which examined the disappearance of the "Nordic voice"-the bloc of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden-from the United Nations.

At the time, the European Union's (EU) progressive policies resonated strongly with Nordic states, who were willing to operate as part of a larger EU coalition. In the intervening years, however, those policies changed. "After they joined the UN in the 1990s, Nordic states felt they could push the EU to be as progressive as they were," Dr. Laatikainen said. The Nordic bloc also believed the UN would remain a strong supporter of multilateralism, or the practice of multiple entities organizing toward a common goal, which is integral to the Nordic international identity. "But it became clear that wasn't going to happen."

The Once-Quiet Nordic Voice Starts to Speak Up

In the mid-2010s, Dr. Laatikainen noticed that the Nordic bloc was beginning to reclaim its voice, issuing collective statements that went farther than EU stances, sometimes alongside the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Now, she's back with a new article that builds on a decade of research and observation: "The return of the Nordic voice at the United Nations," written with longtime collaborator Karen Smith, PhD, of the London School of Economics. (In 2020, the two published the book Group Politics in UN Multilateralism, which won the Academic Council on the United Nations System Biennial Book Award.) The article was accepted into the special 60th anniversary edition of Cooperation and Conflict, a showcase for world-class scholarship on the history of Nordic international relations.

Although the Nordic states have continued to release independent statements, "there's been this emphasis on establishing a Nordic voice as opposed to a national voice as the main dimension of their diplomatic outreach," Dr. Laatikainen said. While researching the article, she had been shown an internal document among the Nordic states that asked diplomats to emphasize a collective voice. "It was a conscious practice, and we wanted to figure out why."

Fractures in the EU-Nordic Relationship

As a study on international practice theory once noted, "practices exist, first and foremost, in the eyes of practitioners." Drs. Laatikainen and Smith spoke to 24 diplomats from the Nordic and Baltic states as well as the EU, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the UK. Their interviews revealed divisions between states and blocs that had formerly engaged in multilateralism.

Historically, Nordic concerns at the UN have centered on human rights, especially women's, children's, indigenous, and gender rights. But as several EU states grew more conservative, weakening the EU's progressive agenda, progressive EU multilateralism fell by the wayside. With their values compromised, Nordic states were no longer content to work only within the EU's diplomatic coalition.

Solving an Identity Crisis

The Nordic bloc had more in mind than accomplishing policy goals. "People think UN politics are about getting votes," Dr. Laatikainen said, "but we contend that these diplomatic practices are as much about identity." She and Dr. Smith drew on the concept of ontological security, or the need to experience the self as a continuous whole, to explain the reappearance of the Nordic voice.

"When we think about national security, we think about military security and arms races," Dr. Laatikainen said. Ontological security, however, is about social and psychological desire. The safety of Nordic states had not been threatened by rising conservatism within the EU, but their existential position was. "These states were worried. 'Are we losing who we are?' We all want to maintain a sense of identity, whether collective or individual, in our relations with others."

Looking to an Uncertain Future

In today's unstable geopolitical landscape, certainty is in short supply. States will cling to-or create-practices that reaffirm their values and identities. For smaller states like the Nordics, the UN is a particularly important site of identity-making. The UN charter preserves the sovereign equality and political independence of all member states, "guaranteeing their existence as actors in the international system," Dr. Laatikainen said.

Most interviews for the article were conducted in 2022. If Dr. Laatikainen spoke to her subjects again today, she believes she'd find "an even stronger attachment to the Nordic voice," given tensions involving Russia and Denmark/Greenland. EU states are also seeking to disengage from a United States under President Trump's leadership, eroding once-strong alliances and shifting the balance of power.

A Four-Decade-Long Scholarly Passion

Amid uncertainty in the world order, Dr. Laatikainen is proud to see a clear line in the continuum of her own work. Since going abroad to Denmark as an undergraduate, she has spent decades studying international relations and diplomacy, always harboring a particular interest in the Nordic region. "The return of the Nordic voice" will be one of her final publications before retirement. "This article is very meaningful on different levels," she said. "It has historical echoes in both my personal and professional life."