In this study Olav Riste examines the ideas, norms and values of war and peace in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He points out the Scandinavian countries’ common features as small, military weak and liberal democracies, but also their different historical experiences, foremost the experience of the Second World War. On this basis Riste does a comparative analysis of the political culture of war and peace in Scandinavia through the 20th century.