Browsing by Subject "Cold War"

This thesis analyses the development of Danish foreign and security policy towards the Arctic ever since the end of the Second World War up until today. It draws primarily on Denmark’s relation to the United States, having been Denmark’s main ally for the last 75 years on all security related matters - but especially since the end of the Cold War. Both Denmark and the US are considered Arctic coastal states, with Denmark accessing the Arctic ocean through its sovereign claim over Greenland, and the US through the state of Alaska. The thesis supports other scholarly studies that argue that a ‘new Cold War’ has been taking place in the years following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States in 2016 between the US, China and Russia, with potentially grave ramifications for Arctic regional security, given its growing importance as a region for resource extraction and commercial passage through the Northern Sea Route. For Denmark, this new Cold War threatens its sovereign claim over Greenland – a crucial geostrategic location for a potential Arctic militarization - being challenged as a small nation by the great power competitions accelerating in the Arctic. The thesis divides the last 75 years into three categorized eras: 1) The Cold War (1945-1991); 2) The post-Cold War era (1991-2017); 3) The ‘new Cold War’ as a developing era (2017 - ; denoted in the thesis), and analyses for each era the fundamentals of Denmark – US relations, first providing a more general overview of their political relations as security partners on non-Arctic related matters, in order to then draw parallels to the development of Denmark – US relations in the Arctic and their roles as state actors in shaping the geopolitical climate of the region. As I show, a lot can be learned from the Cold War to understand what is and may happen in the Arctic in the new Cold War. The thesis makes use of foreign policy analysis, as well as two variations of discourse analysis – poststructuralist discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis – as tools to engage with the empirical data available and answer the thesis’s main research questions: what is the perceived effect of the Trump administration's policy to the position of Denmark in the Arctic? The question is answered on the basis of two main theoretical frameworks: Securitization Theory and Region-Building Theory. These frameworks build the necessary foundation which along with the mentioned methodologies can provide a holistic overview and perspective on the matter with scientific validity. The thesis ends by discussing what can be expected in the near future, based on the knowledge acquired and the answers provided to the research question. A new administration led by president elect Joe Biden took over the White House on January 20st, and with it many new questions are yet to be answered, regarding the future of Denmark – US relations, the future of Arctic governance and the course of the new Cold War. I ponder on what options Denmark might have that could guarantee its security while also maintaining its sovereignty over Greenland – one option being a potential turn towards the EU as its new main security partner. Yet doing so would mean breaking a long-lasting relationship with the US while standing up to the world’s biggest economic and military superpower.

During the Cold War, the Arctic became a stage for the superpowers’ rivalry. The more ballistical armament was developed further, the more the Arctic armament increased. In the 1980s, the Arctic region was a region where the Cold War’s escalation was a real fear. Simultaneously the environmental questions started to concern more and more. Furthermore, although international agreements to protect nature had been negotiated and bilateral ones were being accelerated, there was no organisation for the Arctic dealing region as a whole. This lack of cooperation encountered with détente, the US and the Soviet Union’s leaders converged with rhetoric about restrictions on armaments. When Gorbachev gave a speech on October 1987 in Murmansk and longed for further cooperation in the Arctic region, a situation arose, which enabled the opening of cooperation negotiations. Eventually, Finland was the first to seize the moment, and this led to Finland’s initiative. The initiative aimed to arrange a Conference on the Protection of the Environment in Finland. This master’s thesis examines Finland’s Arctic diplomacy from September 1986 to October 1989, from The Reykjavík Summit to when the first meeting of Arctic issues with eight Arctic states was kept. More precisely, this thesis research how Finland was performing Arctic diplomacy during the period and if there were a change to Finland’s line after the Gorbachev’s speech. Hence, the thesis examines what type of reactions and consequences Gorbachev’s Murmansk speech affected in Finland’s foreign policy. Moreover, this thesis is interested in who was conducting nascent cooperation in the Arctic Region. The primary data used in this thesis are Finland’s Foreign Minister’s archives documents. The study shows that Finland’s Arctic diplomacy was at first in 1986, observative and reactional. However, after Gorbachev’s speech in Murmansk, Finland took the lead and worked actively to start cooperation. In this role, Finland needed to act as a balancer between the Arctic countries’ boundary conditions. Especially the US was hesitating and by this stretched Finland’s negotiator skills. Eventually, Finland achieved in arranging a consultative meeting in Finland in September 1989. This meeting became to be the first of two preparative meetings before the actual ministerial conference. Notably, Finland gained the leading force and was mainly conducting cooperation during the years examined. Nevertheless, the Gorbachev’s speech had a high impact on the momentum, but, significantly, Finland was the one who succeeded seize the moment.

This thesis deals with three official visits by Finnish parliamentarians to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. The first visit was made by a delegation from the Finnish group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1972, a few months before Finland recognised both North and South Korea. The second visit, led by Speaker Sukselainen, was in 1975, and the last official parliamentary visit was in 1984, led by Speaker Pystynen. In the early 1970s, North Korea applied to join the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization founded by British and French parliamentarians in the late 19th century to bring together members of democratically elected parliaments. The DPRK Supreme People's Assembly's application was not immediately accepted - even though parliamentarians from several other socialist countries had already joined the IPU. The Finnish group of the IPU was ready to accept the North Koreans in the spirit of a détente - and, perhaps, also under the influence of Finlandization, which permeated Finnish foreign and, to some extent, domestic policy at the time. All three visits have been examined chronologically, focusing on the two meetings with "Supreme Leader" Kim Il Sung. Three participants in the 1972 visit have been interviewed and the results analysed. The thesis is based on unpublished reports of three visits, interviews, and handwritten notes from audiences with Kim Il Sung. A memorandum on the audience with President Kekkonen is also among the primary sources. The method used to examine the material was archival research (Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Parliament, and the National Library of Finland), source analysis, and content analysis. The research question is: How did the three official visits of Finnish parliamentary delegations to the DPRK during the Cold War and Finlandization era contribute to the establishment and development of Finnish diplomatic and other relations with Kim Il Sung’s North Korea? The thesis describes and analyses the content of the three visits, including interviews with three participants of the 1972 visit and the audience with President Kekkonen, with particular focus on the main discussions and the meetings with Kim Il Sung. Relations with North Korea were virtually non-existent in 1972. It was therefore natural to try to develop them through exchanges of high-level political and economic delegations that mapped out the terrain and prepared the ground for experts. In this broad context, official delegations from the Finnish Parliament also had a role to play. Given the extensive networks of Finnish MPs, they acted as conduits for further political, economic, and cultural relations between Finland and North Korea. The thesis shows that North Koreans, including Kim Il Sung, were genuinely interested in developing trade and technological cooperation with Finland. He even specified several potential areas for this cooperation. It also shows that President Kim and other North Korean leaders were trying to create the impression that there was no imminent danger of war on the Korean Peninsula, at least not from the northern side, which would have hindered exchanges between North Korea and Finland. Moreover, the thesis reveals that both Finnish diplomats and Members of Parliament were impressed by the various achievements of the North Koreans, although Kim Il Sung had characterised his country as still developing. Contextually, this thesis aims to explore a clearly delineated part of the political history of the Cold War, namely the phenomenon of Finlandization, i.e. Finland's subordinate policy as a small country neighbouring the Soviet superpower, and how Finlandization influenced the establishment of diplomatic relations with a country as distant as North Korea.