Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject Politics - Other International Politics Topics, grade: C, University of Lapland, language: English, abstract: After the end of the Cold War the security situation changed totally. This is especially true for the European North, which was and still is as far as we consider the Kola Peninsula for some strategic reasons the most militarised area of the world. This of course had serious influences on the security situation and the security policy of the Western countries. The Northern Countries with Sweden and Finland took the way of neutrality, while Norway and Denmark joined the NATO. Now the old confrontation between West and East disappeared, so that problems relating to this do not exist anymore. But also new problems emerged and some problems only changed their face. This essy gives a brief overview over the security challenges in the European North, it shows some possible reactions to these challenges and tries to value, if the existing Nordic Co-operation can be useful in this.