Overview

Scandinavian countries are routinely considered exceptional for their commitment to development cooperation, peace mediation, and humanitarian action. This book highlights how the political culture of Scandinavia is indeed characterized by the idea of doing good on the world stage, but then shows how this 'Scandinavian humanitarian brand' is an asset that policymakers and others can capitalize on to legitimize policy interventions and ideas, or to advance commercial, diplomatic, and security interests. Providing case studies from all Scandinavian countries, this book shows how the brand is made, reinforced, and used in a variety of policy contexts, from foreign aid and humanitarian assistance; to military operations, peace-building, and mediation; to migration policy, global health, and international cooperation. A key objective of the book is to explain why the Scandinavian humanitarian brand retains such apparent resilience in a time when Scandinavia's characteristic approach to world affairs seems challenged from many sides at once. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Full Product Details

Author:   Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée (Universitetet i Oslo) ,  Kristian Bjørkdahl (Universitetet i Oslo)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781108738859

ISBN 10:   1108738850
Pages:   294
Publication Date:   05 March 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: On the Resilience of the Scandinavian Humanitarian Brand; 1. Fantasy, Distinction, Shame: The Stickiness of the Nordic 'Good State' Brand Christopher S. Browning; 2. The Do-Gooders' Dilemma: Scandinavian Asylum and Migration Policies in the Aftermath of 2015 Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen; 3. The Nobel Savage: Norwegian Do-Goodery as Tragedy Kristian Bjørkdahl; 4. An Historical View on the Nordic 'Peace Brand': Norway and Sweden – Partners and Competitors in Peace Ada Nissen; 5. Sweden's Weapons Exports Paradox Wayne Stephen Coetzee; 6. Danish Development Cooperation: Withering Heights Lars Engberg-Pedersen and Adam Moe Fejerskov; 7. How Democracy Promotion Became a Key Aim of Sweden's Development Aid Policy Johan Karlsson Schaffer; 8. From Unconditional Solidarity to Conditional Evaluability: Competing Notions of Conditionality in Swedish Development Aid Debates Carl Marklund; 9. The Pragmatarian Style: Environmental Change, Global Health, and Gro Harlem Brundtland's Nordic Internationalism Simon Reid-Henry; 10. Global Public Goods: A Threat to Nordic Humanitarianism? Desmond McNeill.

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Author Information

Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée is a PhD fellow at the University of Oslo's Centre for Development and the Environment. His research focuses on the politics of epidemic preparedness and response, and particularly public-private cooperation for emergency response capacities, vaccines and digital technologies. Kristian Bjørkdahl is a postdoc fellow at the University of Oslo's Centre for Development and the Environment. His current work focuses on the idea of Nordic colonial innocence, and he also does research on science communication, pandemic communication, rhetorical history and theory.

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