Nordic solidarity and COVID-19

Abstract

When the world was faced with the enormous challenge of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020 Nordic solidarity and cooperation does not seem to have materialized. The Nordic countries have a strong regional cooperation framework and a long tradition of collaboration and tend to be perceived as a unified region in the international arena. Therefore, when confronted with a global crisis of this magnitude one would expect them to act in solidarity. However, joint political messages at the beginning of the crisis only stressed regional solidarity in already existing areas of cooperation. This lack of cooperation goes against small state theories that predict that small states seek international and regional cooperation to compensate for their structural weaknesses. In this paper we will examine how the Nordic countries reacted at the beginning of the crisis and explore whether the responses to the crisis reveal limits to Nordic cooperation and solidarity specifically.