If Scandinavia was a country, would people view it differently? (life, accepted)
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So we also could join with the UK because it is on the other side of the North Sea? Not a good point. The Scandinavian countries are very different to the Baltic states.
Now to get back on topic: if Scandinavia became a single country, what would happen to the monarchies of Norway, Sweden and Denmark? Would Scandinavia become a republic and would the majority of Norwegians, Swedes and Danes support that? I know that in the Netherlands the support for a republic is only about 10% but perhaps Scandinavians are more open to the idea?
There is a strong republican movement in Sweden at least, for example the Social Democratic party wants to abolish the Monarchy. But I don't think that more than 20-30% of the people supports it.
Having the Swedish royalty as the heads of state will not become a problem in Finland. We already follow every step they take.
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Originally Posted by LindavG
But not compared to the EU or even Russia if it continues to grow. Just imagine how much trade tariffs will hurt the economies of Finland, Sweden and Denmark, who rely on the EU for the majority of their exports. Will Norway be willing to share its oil revenue with those countries? And what about defense spending when you're in between two major power blocks looking to expand their influence? What about the disruption to the financial markets when Finland reverts back to the markka or when Scandinavia introduces its own currency?
The more you think about it, the less likely it becomes I think we will see more European countries in the future rather than less.
This is one big stepping stone. Of course you would have to make a 10 or 20 year plan for the future currency and economy. Shifting back to the Finnish mark is not very likely. We should take the Swedish krown for a while and ultimately have a single currency.
Uniting is sharing, so if it would happen, some of the oil revenue should be shared among the other provinces. NATO is another problem. Denmark and Norway surely don't want to leave.
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Originally Posted by John-UK
General Mannerheim, the hero of Finland, could not speak Finnish, he spoke Russian. He needed an interpreter a lot of the time.
Field Marshal. And he spoke Finnish, albeit a bit broken.
Hard enough to unite 4 or 5 countries which are very similar, so even harder to add 6 more countries which are very different. Yeah, no deal.
Also, with these further 6 countries, language will definitely become an issue. It'll be a country of 61million people with 11 official languages, no thanks
Also, with these further 6 countries, language will definitely become an issue. It'll be a country of 61million people with 11 official languages, no thanks
Not to mention that the standard of living would be much bigger than between north and south Italy. Imagine a Latvian who makes €550 a month paying the Norwegian price for groceries. And BTW, Scandinavia would have legal gay marriage, and the Latvian would never accept that.
Scandinavie is a historica an geographic region in northren Europe that includes, an is cried efter, the Scandinavie Peninsula. It conseests o the kinricks o Norawa, Swaden, an Denmark. Whiles some fowk threaps that Finland an Iceland is pairt o Scandinavie an aw but for ordinar Scandinavie juist means Denmark, Norrowey an Swaden, that aw haes sib leeds (a dialect continuum), ethnic composeetion an close cultural an historic baunds, tae some degree Scandinavie fowk micht be thocht o as the ae ilk.
There is sometimes a very thin line of what is a language or dialect. It happens sometimes, especially when a country declares independence, that a dialect is standardized, e.g declared as a language and written in a different way, using local words and spelling the words in the way they are pronounced in that dialect. For centuries, Norwegian was considered as a Danish dialect and was written in the same way as Standard Danish.
But then Norway declared independence from Denmark (not really independent though, they were in Union with Sweden but were self-ruling), and decided out of national pride that Norwegian is no longer a dialect but instead a seperate language and made 2 official written standards for it to be written in (Bokmål and Nynorsk), where words are spelled in the way they are pronounced in Norwegian, and also with some local words added. Kind of like if Scotland would declare independence and decide that Scots English is a seperate language and decide that everything should be written in a Scottish way, like the link I showed you there.
There is not much difference at all between the dialect spoken in Trønderlag, Norway and the dialect spoken in their neighbor Jämtland, Sweden, but those who lives in Trønderlag are considered as Norwegian-speakers cause Trønderlag is in Norway, and those who lives in Jämtland are considered as Swedish-speakers cause Jämtland is in Sweden. Both dialects spoken in their true form are often totally incomprehensible for people in remaining Sweden and Norway, but Trønders and Jamts understands eachothers. Whats considered as Norwegian language and whats considered as Swedish language is entirely based on the national political border.
The concept "A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is indeed very true in Scandinavia.
What I meant of course was that the actual spoken difference between these 3 languages are not much different than English is to Scots English, if we exclude patriotic language politics like official written standards. Its not much harder for a Swede to get understood in Norway than it is for an Englishman to get understood in Scotland.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 11-02-2014 at 08:39 AM..
I've often wondered what it would be like if Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland all adopted electronic currency. Perhaps the cost of buying things in different countries at different exchange rates would be similar to different sales taxes. Advantages would be allowing people in Sweden to have bank accounts denominated in Norwegian currency, and the ability to switch back and forth easily.
I think it would go a long way towards regarding the region as an economic union. It needn't threaten the EU. The electronic currency would change the world's perception.
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I think we will see more European countries in the future rather than less.
