A Nordic Defense Alliance 1949–1965–197?

Date01 March 1966
AuthorChristian Lange,Kjell Goldmann
Published date01 March 1966
DOI10.1177/001083676600100304
Subject MatterArticle
Christian Lange
and
Kjell Goldmann
ANordic Defense
Alliance
1949-1965-1977
Ever since
the
1948-1949 negotiations on
aScandinavian defense pact, joint Nordic
defense arrangements of one
sort
or
another have periodically figured in
the
Nordic security policy debate. Finnish
participation in such projects has also
been
mentioned as a possibility. In
the
autumn
of
1965
the
Nordic debate on
military cooperation flared up again. By
and
large, skepticism was expressed re-
garding
the
prospects of
the
so-called
Nordic alternative. However it was a
rather
common opinion
that
in a
future
situation,
under
altered
world
political
conditions,
the
question could come to
the
fore
again.
The
purpose of this
paper
is to present
some problems which arise in a discus-
sion on
the
value
of
Nordic military
cooperation in a
future
situation, des-
ignated 11I97?
I).
We
shall
attempt
to
show
how
these problems
were
dealt
with
during
the
1948-49 negotiations and
the
1965 debate.
We
do not, however,
claim
that
our
presentation of this debate
is in any
way
exhaustive or altogether
fair.
Our
primary interest is
the
situation
197?,
not
the
events of 1948-49 or
1965.
It
may
be questioned to
what
degree
the
1948-49 discussion is still relevant.
The
world
political situation in 1948-
49 was completely
different
from
the
situation in 1965 and
that
in 197?
The
context
of
the
debate in 1948-49 was also
entirely
different
from
that
in 1965 and
197?
At
the close of
the
1940's three
specified countries -
Denmark,
Norway
and
Sweden -negotiated on
the
forma-
tion
of
aNordic defense
pact
in a given
world political situation. In 1965
the
value
of
Nordic military cooperation was
discussed
without
the
debaters being
agreed on which countries would partic-
ipate in the cooperation} and sometimes
even
without
the
individual debaters clar-
ifying
their
own
presuppositions in this
respect.
Nor
did they always specify in
what
kinds
of
world
political situations
Nordic cooperation would be suitable or
unsuitable; little attention was thus de-
voted to
the
decisive question -
the
answer to which in 1949 was a given
factor:
With
which alternatives should
the Nordic
If
solution" be compared? In
1948-49 an acute problem
had
to be
solved} and this was
the
subject
of
nego-
tiations
between
governments; in 1965
opinions
were
expressed on hypothetical
alternatives in an indefinite future. In
the
1965 debate, however, numerous refe-
rences
were
made to experiences
and
problems
from
the
1948-49 negotiations.'
These experiences
were
obviously consid-
ered relevant in regard to 197?
The
question of a
pact
in 197? con-
cerns
three
major problems, namely:
(1)
What
countries should comprise aNordic
defense pact? (2)
What
are
the
alter-
natives to be compared
with
the
Nordic
solution in 197?
(3)
Against this back-
ground,
how
should amilitary alliance
anno 197? be organized? Before going
into these problems it is appropriate to
present various official statements made
during
the
1965 debate.
Official Declarations in the
1965 Debate
On
16 September 1965
under
the
head-
line "Swedish-Norwegian defence
pact
being considered"} Eric Silver, Guardian
correspondent, asserted
that
specialist
A
NORDIC
DEFENSE ALLIANCE
1949-
19
6S-
197? 47
study groups
had
been established in
Norway
and Sweden to explore
the
implications
of
adefense
pact
which
could come into
force
in 1969.
The
groups
were
said to be working
under
the
Institutes
of
International Affairs in
both
countries. Silver commented
that
it was
not
clear to
what
extent
their
research was
under
government direc-
tion,
but
the
groups "have certainly
been encouraged
...
by
their
respective
Foreign Ministries". According to Silver,
the
impetus
for
these studies
had
come
from
Sweden.
The
statement
that
the
Norwegian
and Swedish governments
were
in any
way involved in discussions on a
defense
pact
was categorically denied
by
both
the
Norwegian Foreign Minister
and
the
Swedish Minister
of
Defense.f
The
Directors
of
the
Institutes
of
Inter-
national Affairs in Oslo and Stockholm
denied
the
assertion
that
investigations
on a Norwegian-Swedish defense pact
were in progress at their Institutes as
well as
the
idea
that
the
governments in
any way gave directives for
the
studies
actually being conducted." This did not,
however, prevent a lively debate in
Nordic newspapers. Various theories
circulated about
what
was really behind
Silver's article. According to
one
state-
ment, discussions
had
been
carried on
between representatives
of
the
Social
Democratic Youth League (SSU) in
Sweden and members
of
the
Socialist
People's Party (SF) in Norway:" accord-
ing to another conjecture, it was a
question of Swedish-Norwegian contacts
via
the
national
trade
union organiza-
tions (which are closely associated
with
the
respective Social Democratic
par-
ties).
In various statements on
October
13th
the
Swedish Minister
of
Defense, Sven
Andersson, again underlined
that
the
Swedish government
had
in no way
taken any initiative in
the
question of
Nordic military cooperation; nor did it
have any intention
of
doing
SO.5
An
equally categorical denial was made by
Prime Minister Erlander,
who
especially
emphasized
that
the
Swedish govern-
ment
had
as little desire as previously
"in attempting to influence
our
neigh-
bours"." In an interview Foreign Minister
Halvard Lange,
of
the
resigning
Nor-
wegian Labour government, said
that
there
had
not
occurred "anything which
could be called contacts on
the
govern-
ment
level"; certain "feelers"
had
been
sent
out
on
the
"organization level"."
On
October
13th Andersson also dealt
with
Sweden's attitude
toward
the
idea
of
aNordic defense community if
NATO
"ceased to exist" in 1969 or if
Denmark
and
Norway
left
the
Western
Alliance
for
some
other
reason.
"We
have
not
at present considered
the
question," he said in a Danish broadcast,
"we
have
not
seen any reason. But I
imagine
that
if such a situation
were
to
arise we would be prepared to consider
the
question again."
To
Svenska Dagbla-
det, aStockholm newspaper, he remark-
ed
that
one could assume
that
Sweden
in such a hypothetical situation would
be prepared to enter negotiations
with
the
other
two
Scandinavian countries
on a non-aligned Nordic defense pact.
It would not, however, be a
matter
of
Swedish initiative;
the
initiative
must
come
from
Denmark
or Norway.
The
Minister of Defense stressed
that
he
did
not
believe it likely
that
"the
West-
ern military cooperation would be ter-
minated". In reply to a question on
the
Danish radio of
whether
anon-aligned
Nordic defense
pact
could increase
security in
the
Nordic region, Andersson
said
that that
assumption
from
1949 was
the
first one which ought to be consid-
ered if
the
question
were
to come up
again.
The
same day
the
Danish Minister
of
Defense, Gram, commenting on Anders-
son's statement, declared
that
Denmark
had no "immediate interest" in joining

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