Managing Transnationalism In Northern Europe

Book excerpt: How can political leaders best control the effects of transnational links on their societies, maintaining the prosperity brought by such ties while minimizing their unstabilizing effects? The answer, according to some observers, rests in collective management through joint policymaking processes. This work explores the strategy used in Scandinavian countries for collectively coping with transnationalism. Although focus ing on a unique case, it is highly relevant to broader international efforts at policy coordination and joint problem solving. The author first analyzes the extent of Nordic transnational ties and identifies the principles involved in collective management. He then outlines the means, scope, and frequency of regional contacts among political leaders and bureaucrats and analyzes the norms and dynamics of joint policymaking to determine what roles the various principals play in the collective management effort. Policy results are reviewed in order to evaluate the relative success of Nordic methods, and comparisons are made between issue areas and degrees of salience to reveal the types of issues most effectively treated by the Nordic strategy.