Exploring The NORDIC REGION...
Student Text Page No. 3: "Tomorrow's Challenge"

Communications satellites over northern Europe are busy, these days. Danes, Finns, Icelanders, Norwegians, and Swedes use those space-age links to watch Brazilian soccer games, send e-mail to friends in Africa, and spot new trends on the Japanese stock exchange.... No doubt about it: The Nordic Region is wired.

The earliest Scandinavian ancestors of today's Nordic people "walked" messages to the next village (or "rowed" them there by boat). Their descendants, however, are into information and communications technologies (ICT). And they've adopted them at a rapid rate. By the year 2003, about 9 percent of the Nordic Region's private-sector workers had ICT-related jobs. And, after surveying 150 nations, the World Bank found that Nordic countries ranked among the top 10 in this category: per-capita spending on ICT.

Small world. Nordic people have always been interested in reaching out to the rest of the world. More than 1,000 years ago, voyagers from this region launched daring sea voyages, to exchange goods and ideas in distant lands. And today, Nordic nations have high-tech industries that depend on global markets. The big difference between then and now? Today's world is more closely knit. Almost any crisis in the global marketplace can affect Nordic economies. In 1990, for example, a drop in global oil prices cut into the sales value of Norway's petroleum exports. And a decade later, a slowdown in the global economy — plus a slump in telecommunications — had a big impact on Finland's exports. Both nations recovered, however. And by 2004, the Finns ranked first in economic competitiveness among more than 100 economies worldwide! (All the other Nordic nations ranked among the top 10.) The message was clear. Everyone is linked….

Big outreach. Trade is not the only factor that links Nordic peoples to the world at large. Nordic nations cooperate with other Arctic countries to monitor the impact of climate warming. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden rank first, third, and fourth worldwide in the percent of gross national income that they donate to foreign aid (2004). Peace-building is another Nordic "export." In 1993, Norwegian diplomacy helped broker a peacemaking plan between Israel and the Palestinians. And, after the tragic events in America in September 2001, Nordic nations intensified efforts to end global terrorism.

Alone, or together? "In unity lies strength." The governments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden had no problem with that axiom, when they formed the Nordic Council in the 1950s. The Council helps them to cooperate on many goals — the protection of their fishing beds, for example. And the five countries are also members of the peace-keeping UN. But they have disagreed among themselves about certain other international organizations. Thus, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway (but not Finland or Sweden) belong to the mutual-defense pact known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And similarly, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden (but not Iceland or Norway) have joined the "common-market" European Union (EU). Even within the EU, Nordic members differ: Finland, together with 11 other EU nations, decided to adopt the EU's new currency (the euro). But Denmark and Sweden did not..

Regional Matters. As Nordic nations contemplate the rest of the 21st century, they face big issues: Can their 24.5 million citizens continue to sustain the region's top-ranking economies (and the generous welfare programs these economies support)? Would it be better for all five countries to belong to the EU and NATO, which have been expanding eastward? One thing is sure: As they deal with such matters, their example will help us to ponder: How vital is it for nations in a region to cooperate on foreign policy? What impact can a highly motivated, vigorous region have on the rest of the world community?