The title of this book The New North of Europe has a dual meaning. Implicit is the idea that the ´Old North of Europe´(the Nordic Community) was a social construction reflecting Cold War realities. It excluded, for example, all the Soviet/Russian northern territories from its definition, underlining the East/west division of Europe. The New North Europe stresses the essential unity of post Cold War European space; unification of Europe could begin in the North and so avoid a potential new division of the European continent.