United Scandinavia?

[Routasydän]

Originally Posted by Gavril

Talking about 'cultural similarities' seems to me an excuse for proposing this highly hypothetical union, but what no one has really adressed is the reason for doing so in the first place.

Well earlier I suggested a military alliance.

These have been discussed and theorized for centuries. During the world wars and the time between them there were plans of a neutral Nordic military block, a Finnish-Swedish military alliance, Finnish-Estonian union, military co-operation between the "border states" (Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland).

Most have had military/geopolitical motivations, and for good reason when we consider what for example happened to the new states in the Baltic and Eastern Europe during the second world war, not to mention Norway and Denmark.

I would definately prefer such an alliance over NATO or EU, which are currently the two trump cards that at least Finnish debate around national security seems to rest upon. Either the EU becomes a credible military power, or we join NATO, seems to be the reasoning. (One of) the main reason(s) Finland joined the EU was exactly that, to get security guarantees against Russia.

[Lutiferre]

We should distinguish between a Scandinavian union or alliance, and a "Nordic" one. The latter term is much more ambigious and I doubt it would be supported by anyone. Danes don't really recognise any "Nordic" kinship beyond Scandinavia, in my experience. Then, the question is also if such a supranationalism should be built on kinship or historical relations, or merely economic or military factors.