In August 2015, international legal scholars and expert practitioners from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden gathered to discuss contemporary issues of international law from a Nordic perspective: Do the “shared Nordic values” extend to embrace a common perspective on international law and policy beyond the Nordic region? And do international legal scholars in the Nordic countries share a professional outlook enabling us to speak of a distinct “Nordic approach to international law”? This book contains a selection of the conference papers, which all address aspects of Nordic approaches to international law - varying significantly in terms of subject area, methodology and style. The book is relevant to international legal scholars in the Nordic countries and beyond.

In 1999 the EU decided to develop its own military capacities for crisis management. This book brings together a group of experts to examine the consequences of this decision on Nordic policy establishments, as well as to shed new light on the defence and security issues that matter for Europe as a whole.

This Special Edition aims to complement State of the Nordic Region 2020 by taking an in-depth look at some of the factors that contribute to wellbeing and health in the Nordic Region, and exploring how digitalisation in health care and social care can contribute to wellbeing. The report illustrates the central role of demography, whereby the composition and the spatial patterns of the population together with socio-economic factors contribute to shaping the living conditions and wellbeing in different parts of the Nordic Region. Despite a general pattern of urban regions being richer, more well educated and living longer, we also find many thriving rural areas attracting new young residents. Digital infrastructure plays a crucial role for the development of those rural areas.

This book explores the history of Nordic human rights politics and practices from the 1930s to present day. The authors use previously unexplored archival materials to bring to light how a broad range of Nordic actors have engaged with international human rights globally and at a European level and how these norms have been taken up and interpreted in the region. Do the Nordic countries warrant the label ‘global good Samaritans’ in human rights promotion? Is the Nordic welfare state a close to perfect realisation of human rights norms? Or do Nordic international and domestic human rights policies constitute a peculiar ‘Nordic human rights paradox’ where norms are supported internationally while not being implemented at home? Are the ideals of the national welfare state and universal human rights compatible? In this book, the authors take issue with previous scholarship and argue for the need for careful historical investigations into how a broad range of Nordic actors have contributed to creating international human rights. This history is much more varied than what was previously assumed. The lack of prior interest in the region means there are several promising avenues for historical investigations of both the Nordic countries in human rights history and the role of human rights in the history of the region. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Nordic Journal of Human Rights.