This book provides the first lengthy study of awkward states partners in regional integration.
Is awkwardness a characteristic of states in many global regions or is it reducible to the
particular case of the United Kingdom in European integration? The authors assess how far the
concept of 'awkwardness' can travel and apply it to the cases of the Nordic States'
involvement in and with the European Union - Denmark Finland Sweden Iceland and Norway. The
renewed interest in the Nordic region is in part thanks to recent events in the on-going crisis
of European integration and particular its member states' response to the refugee question
which appears to be undermining years of intra-regional solidarity even between the Nordic
countries. The security dimension of the region further broadens the book's readership beyond
Nordic Politics specialists to IR scholars as the Nordic countries share borders with Russia
and are key players in the Baltic Sea Strategy seeking to involve Russia in looser forms of
regional cooperation.
