Introduction: Nationalizing the North

Abstract

This introduction chapter offers analysis of the underlying national sentiments in each of the five Nordic countries. The chapter provides overview of the political history of the region, from medieval imperialism to formation and breakup of the Kalmar Union. Nordic power structure was once again reshuffled in the Napoleonic Wars. Russia acquired Finland after defeating Sweden, but after the realignment, now alongside Russia and England, Sweden, on the other hand, won Norway from Denmark, which it controlled until 1905.

   Integrationist strives, similar to unifications in Germany and Italy, finally failed in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century, giving birth to the system of five Nordic nation states and three self-rule territories. The chapter discusses dual nationalism in the Nordics: the common Scandinavianism and separate nation-statism. The chapter furthermore discusses common Nordic identity and maps their surprisingly differing paths in foreign relations.

   Nations and nationalisms as well as fascist movements of the 1920s and 1930s are discussed at length. Finally, the chapter analyses three waves of populist politics in Europe, all occurring in wake of crisis. The first starting after the OPEC crisis in the 1970s, the second heightening after the communist regime collapse in 1990s and the third spreading further in wake of the financial crisis of 2008 when populist parties surged in elections throughout the Nordics. The chapter concludes with an attempt to define right-wing nationalist populist politics. The book continues with examining populist political communication of five political parties: the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti, DS), the True Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset, PS), the Icelandic Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn,FSF), the Norwegian Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, FrP) and the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD).