Thesis focuses on the issue of Georgia's possible receipt of Membership Action Plan (MAP), Thesis strives to represent the possibility of Georgia's MAP receipt and then subsequently in the geopolitics of NATO's enlargement. Main research areas of the thesis include the 1997. Second area of research is focused on the costs and benefits of Georgia's NATO gia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South

The debate concerning if Sweden should move closer to NATO or even apply for membership is not entirely new. Due to Russia´s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine in the spring of 2014, and due to Russians violations of national territory, Swedish political actors have discussed the NATO membership energetically. The purpose of this essay is to map out the Swedish debate about NATO membership. By applying a Pro-Contra analysis this essay will also examine arguments from the swedish parties, members of parliament, debaters, researchers and former Secretary of State. Furthermore, the arguments will also be analyzed through theories of realism and liberalism. The debate for a NATO membership shows that arguments are based on a combination of both realism and liberalism, although there are more arguments influenced by liberalism. The arguments against a NATO membership are mainly characterized by realism rather than liberalism.

The main purpose of this thesis was to analyze how Swedish political parties describe and frame Swedish foreign and security policy in the parliament debates from year 2015- 2017. The aim of the thesis was therefore to understand and concretize ideas politicians hold on the question of the Swedish non- military alignment policy. By extracting ideas from theories of international relations; realism, liberalism, constructivism and feminism the Swedish parties are being analyzed according to worldview, view of international actors, security issues and goals to achieve by the Swedish state in foreign policy matters. The analyze shows that politicians that had a realist view of foreign matters was in general more pessimistically oriented. Politicians with a liberal view was a bit more positively oriented towards both the world and also towards international cooperation. The politicians within liberal views also promoted a Swedish membership in NATO. Politicians with a constructivist and feminist view on foreign policy matters had a more optimistic view towards the world but also the states and organizations in it. They also promoted non- violence tools, diplomacy and negotiations above a NATO membership to secure the Swedish state, its people and interests. The second aim of the thesis was to discuss whether the Swedish military non- alignment policy is currently moving towards a change or reevaluation based on the behavior by the Swedish government. This raises questions about whether a foreign policy only exists in terms of words or also in terms of actions made by politicians as well.

In spite of the long tradition and strong national identity of military non-alignment, the Social Democratic government enabled a profound redefinition of the national interest into an application for a Swedish membership of NATO. Through a critical discourse analysis, this thesis will explore how this was made possible, focusing on the social construction of national interests. Based on constructivism and ideas of Jutta Weldes, three main concepts were identified guiding the discursive analytical framework: the security imaginary of a state, subject positions, and chains of connotations. Furthermore, the analysis shows that this radical shift in the Swedish security policy primarily occurred through reinforcing an image of ‘the Russian threat’, as well as through new subject positioning where NATO was moved closer to Sweden and ‘the self’, followed by particular chains of connotations. These findings emphasize the importance of applying a critical lens to explore perceptions and interpretations within discourse, the constitutive function of language and the hidden meanings behind it.

This comparative case study examines alliance memberships’ impact on two states’ strategic culture. It focuses on changes in Danish and Norwegian strategic culture during 2008-2012, examining if and how NATO membership and specifically NATO's 2010 strategic concept impacted potential changes in the states’ strategic culture. The dependent variable, strategic culture, is broken down into three sub-beliefs used to identify relevant content in the analysed material. Using national defence white papers published before and after the strategic concept as material, a qualitative content analysis is then conducted to identify changes to the sub- beliefs before and after the release of the strategic concept. The sub-beliefs are also used to analyse the 2010 strategic concept to identify themes, which are then compared to changes in strategic culture found before and after the release of the concept. The analysis found that after the release of the concept all three of the Norwegian sub-beliefs changed in several ways that were consistent with the main themes identified in the concept, as well as using the concept as justification for changes and prioritisations in policies. Based on this the thesis makes the claim that the strategic concept likely impacted Norwegian strategic culture in several ways. While Danish sub-beliefs did change in some areas that were consistent with themes in the strategic concept, the changes were not conclusive enough to make the claim that the strategic concept had any meaningful impact on Danish strategic culture.

During the Cold War, Norway was a member of NATO, Sweden was neutral but depended on Western support in the event of a crisis, while Finland's foreign policy priority was to win and retain the Soviet Union's confidence. The purpose of the thesis is to study whether the three small states' different foreign policy choices had consequences for the ways in which the Soviet Union and the USA were depicted in school textbooks for history, geography, and social sciences in the period 1930 to 2004. To this end, a theory derived from small states' strategies to maintain their independence was applied to textbook production. The study demonstrates that there was a link between small state foreign policy and textbooks' accounts of the USA and Soviet Union. Swedish and Norwegian textbooks portray international conflicts from a legalistic perspective, taking the part of small states exposed to superpower aggression such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. In Finnish textbooks, however, an interest in defending small state's rights yielded to the need to demonstrate their goodwill towards the Soviet Union, which was described in far less critical terms than in Swedish and Norwegian textbooks. In time, in the name of neutrality, depictions of the USA also became increasingly uncritical. All three Nordic states had government authorities charged with inspecting and approving school textbooks. Foreign policy's chief influence on textbooks was not effected by direct oversight, however; instead, it was established indirectly by means of the social climate, which determined what was considered politically correct in the three countries, and it was to this that the textbooks' authors adapted their work. Textbooks are often said to be conservative and slow to change, but the thesis shows that in parts they were politically sensitive, rapidly adapting to changes in what society held to be politically correct.

<p>During the Cold War, Norway was a member of NATO, Sweden was neutral but depended on Western support in the event of a crisis, while Finland's foreign policy priority was to win and retain the Soviet Union's confidence. The purpose of the thesis is to study whether the three small states' different foreign policy choices had consequences for the ways in which the Soviet Union and the USA were depicted in school textbooks for history, geography, and social sciences in the period 1930 to 2004. To this end, a theory derived from small states' strategies to maintain their independence was applied to textbook production. </p><p>The study demonstrates that there was a link between small state foreign policy and textbooks' accounts of the USA and Soviet Union. Swedish and Norwegian textbooks portray international conflicts from a legalistic perspective, taking the part of small states exposed to superpower aggression such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. In Finnish textbooks, however, an interest in defending small state's rights yielded to the need to demonstrate their goodwill towards the Soviet Union, which was described in far less critical terms than in Swedish and Norwegian textbooks. In time, in the name of neutrality, depictions of the USA also became increasingly uncritical.</p><p>All three Nordic states had government authorities charged with inspecting and approving school textbooks. Foreign policy's chief influence on textbooks was not effected by direct oversight, however; instead, it was established indirectly by means of the social climate, which determined what was considered politically correct in the three countries, and it was to this that the textbooks' authors adapted their work. </p><p>Textbooks are often said to be conservative and slow to change, but the thesis shows that in parts they were politically sensitive, rapidly adapting to changes in what society held to be politically correct.</p>