Three decades ago, the three Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania regained their sovereign independence and started on a path of radical democratic and economic development that would lead them to European Union and NATO membership in 2004. Baltic-Nordic cooperation throughout this period was intense and with the expectation, largely realized, that the Baltic states would gradually converge with their northern neighbors and adopt “Nordic models” of democracy, economy, and welfare. However, despite this radical transformation of Northern Europe, xenostereotypes of the “good” Nordics and the “shifty” Baltics persist. This talk discusses how and why these different identities endure and asks if, regardless of the continuing pigeon-holing of states, a New Norden is emerging in Europe’s north.
