The 2024 ReNEW Conference on the state of the Nordics and their place in the world concluded today in twenty panels, and Nordic political, social, cultural, and economic developments are placed in wide-ranging national, comparative, and transnational contexts.

From left: Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, President of Iceland, Dr. Irma Erlingsdóttir, Director of EDDA and professor at the University of Iceland, and Peter G. Stadius, Project leader of ReNEW and professor at the University of Helsinki.

At the conference, it was emphasised that the Nordic countries have been profoundly impacted by new geopolitical, cultural, and migratory patterns, which have shaped and, in some cases, redefined domestic political landscapes, civil society, gender relations, and minority rights.

The return to a Cold War-style polarization—epitomized by the Ukraine War—has also had a deep impact on the external relations of Nordic states, Nordic cooperation as well as Nordic participation in international and regional institutions.

At the conference, Nordic exceptionalism—whether in the form of gender equality utopias, social well-being, or cultural tolerance—was deconstructed and scrutinised in a critical fashion. In addition, there were interventions on societal challenges, such as democratic engagement and legal rights; public trust in democratic institutions; gendered workplace relations; and public attitudes toward the social reforms and military spending. And ideas about the North as a geographic space—filled with political, environmental, cultural, and social content—were explored, not least within the context of Arctic developments. Thus, together with the keynote lectures on colonialism and on Russia and the West, a broad range of topics were covered with many interlinking threads and connections.