Abstract The struggle for Swedish foreign policy – How Swedish foreign policy was defined and established between the years 1867–1905 as a result of prevailing political power-sharing   AIMS – The aim of this master thesis is to problematize how the Swedish foreign policy was defined politically in the context of the existing constitutional power-sharing model between the bicameral parliament and the ruling monarch. The period 1867–1905 is considered an earlier phase in the political process towards modern parliamentarianism in Sweden. DESIGN – An overall theoretical perspective of a correlation between domestic- and foreign policy is applied, and complemented with a theoretical position of which actor has the priority to define Swedish foreign policy. The thesis uses a methodology of extensive argumentation analysis, with a thematic division between the internal political arena on one side, and on the other side the parliamentary arena. The first arena is analyzed by combining political programs with the monarchs’ autobiographies and memoir. The second arena uses parliamentary debate protocols, parliamentary bills. In this way the thesis generates a selection and a greater understanding of various political issues which is of concern to the actual foreign policy definition in the annual official political throne speeches of the Swedish monarch. RESULTS – A variety of political issues are regarded as of foreign political importance within the internal political arena and is distinguished by a degree of correlations with ideological, ideal and political domestic issues. Such issues are then reflected in the parliamentary arena, through debates in both first and second chambers. The range of issues addressed is not only of constitutional importance, regarding the monarch’s executive power over the different foreign policy areas, but also concerning which political approach should be applied to define the main principle of Swedish foreign policy. Together, the parliamentary debates reveals which arguments influence the definition of foreign policy and which actors who claim the priority to define Swedish foreign policy – all within the existing frame of the power-sharing system. CONCLUSIONS – The thesis concludes that the actors of various parliamentary committees, and especially the constitutional committee, not only had the crucial argument which determined the outcome of the numerous parliamentary debates. Same actors also had the priority to define the main arguments on which the foundations of the monarch’s foreign policy political guidelines where dictated.

The following thesis is a study of why the Swedish government´s approach to the use of military means in the Arctic region has changed over the last ten years. The analysis builds upon theoretical tools of neoclassical realism. First, an examination is made of the costal states’ military development in regards to the Arctic region to settle if there have been any significant shifts in relative power. Second, the Swedish government’s threat perceptions alongside the change of the Swedish military capabilities are analysed. According to the results of the study, several aspects may have played a part in the Swedish policy change. Factors on both the international and the national level are of importance, however it is concluded that changes in decision makers’ perception and reduced military capabilities could have had a certain role in shaping the governments approach to the Arctic region.

The change in Swedish foreign and security policy that took place during the post-Cold War era is well known. Sweden left the foreign and security policy based on the principle of “nonalignment in peace, aiming at neutrality in the event of war” and headed towards international cooperation within the field of foreign and security policy as well as signing the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 with the EU, which included the principle of solidarity. By implementing a role-theory based analysis, this thesis aims to contribute to an understanding of the changes in Swedish security and foreign policy, which developed after the signing of the Lisbon Treaty in 2008. The research stretches from 2006 until 2011 and examines Swedish foreign and security policy role change and role conceptions by using a comparative case study design of the Swedish Government’s annual foreign declarations. Finally, this study suggests that Sweden no longer perceives itself as a neutral state, but rather as a solidarity state. This shows that Sweden’s foreign and security policy has gone from neutrality to solidarity. In conclusion, the study’s result is that Sweden’s foreign and security policy change from neutrality to solidarity would not be possible without the changes in the foreign policy role conceptions.

<p>C-level Thesis in International Relations Course.</p>

C-level Thesis in International Relations Course.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the Swedish policy towards the Korean Conflict 1947–1953. “Swedish policy” means primarily the Swedish Government’s policy, but also the action taken by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Defence Staff. </p><p>When the UN treated the issue of Korea in the years before the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 the Swedish government abstained from voting for reasons of principle or legality, namely that the Korean issue belonged to the peace regulations after the Second World War, in which Sweden, as an ex-neutral state, considered that it should not participate. </p><p>During the Korean War 1950–1953 the Swedish government almost consistently and in many different ways supported the US-led coalition in defence of South Korea. Although never officially mentioned, this support was given with considerable uneasiness. This uneasiness stemmed not only from fears that the neutrality policy would be compromised in the eyes of the Soviet Union but also from fears of what the reaction would be like in Sweden. The fear concerned two things: that the public support for Sweden joining the Western alliance would be strengthened, and that there would be negative reactions among their own crack units, who were regarded as neutrality supporters. Certain elements in the policy adopted by the Government have been judged as attempts to try to counteract this. </p><p>Due to its status as non-aligned country without combat troops in Korea Sweden was given a number of assignments of a mediating and bridging nature during the Korean War. The Swedish government had worries that some of those assignments would be expensive and difficult to carry out. But Sweden had an obvious interest in putting an end to the war and the government also realized that the fact that Sweden was given such missions could be used to justify the Swedish policy of neutrality. </p><p>The Korean War broke out quickly and surprisingly and was initially mobile and fluctuating with several dramatic changes in the successes in the field. Throughout the war, also when the warfare had become more static and the armistice negotiations had started, there was a latent threat of escalation towards a major war between East and West. The Swedish foreign and security policy experts in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Defence Staff could not predict the outbreak of the Korean War and all the dramatic shifts, but they had an accurate basic attitude concerning the two superpowers’ desire to avoid a world war and restrict the Korean War to Korea. </p>

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the Swedish policy towards the Korean Conflict 1947–1953. “Swedish policy” means primarily the Swedish Government’s policy, but also the action taken by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Defence Staff. When the UN treated the issue of Korea in the years before the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 the Swedish government abstained from voting for reasons of principle or legality, namely that the Korean issue belonged to the peace regulations after the Second World War, in which Sweden, as an ex-neutral state, considered that it should not participate. During the Korean War 1950–1953 the Swedish government almost consistently and in many different ways supported the US-led coalition in defence of South Korea. Although never officially mentioned, this support was given with considerable uneasiness. This uneasiness stemmed not only from fears that the neutrality policy would be compromised in the eyes of the Soviet Union but also from fears of what the reaction would be like in Sweden. The fear concerned two things: that the public support for Sweden joining the Western alliance would be strengthened, and that there would be negative reactions among their own crack units, who were regarded as neutrality supporters. Certain elements in the policy adopted by the Government have been judged as attempts to try to counteract this. Due to its status as non-aligned country without combat troops in Korea Sweden was given a number of assignments of a mediating and bridging nature during the Korean War. The Swedish government had worries that some of those assignments would be expensive and difficult to carry out. But Sweden had an obvious interest in putting an end to the war and the government also realized that the fact that Sweden was given such missions could be used to justify the Swedish policy of neutrality. The Korean War broke out quickly and surprisingly and was initially mobile and fluctuating with several dramatic changes in the successes in the field. Throughout the war, also when the warfare had become more static and the armistice negotiations had started, there was a latent threat of escalation towards a major war between East and West. The Swedish foreign and security policy experts in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Defence Staff could not predict the outbreak of the Korean War and all the dramatic shifts, but they had an accurate basic attitude concerning the two superpowers’ desire to avoid a world war and restrict the Korean War to Korea.

This thesis aims to determine if there is a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism in the Swedish Government’s Statements of Foreign Policy between 2002 and 2018. Discourse analysis have been used to analyze eight statements, based on a constructivist framework and the theoretical concept of Swedish exceptionalism. Swedish exceptionalism is the idea of Sweden having a self-image of being superior to others, mainly based on the country’s understanding of itself as being a “moral superpower”.   The research question formulated was: Are the Swedish Government’s Statements of Foreign Policy, between 2002 and 2018, articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism?   To determine if there was a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism in the Statements of Foreign Policy, seven key representations of the concept were established. Those were   Sweden:   1.     being military non-aligned 2.     having an active foreign policy 3.     being pioneering or “leading the way” 4.     bringing security, stability, and peace 5.     being a champion of human rights and democracy 6.     acting as mediator and/or a bridge builder 7.     showing solidarity with “less fortune states” (developing, vulnerable and/or small)   The results of the empirical study were that all key representations were present in all of the statements analyzed, which lead to the conclusion is that the Statements of Foreign Policy between 2002 and 2018 were articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism.

This study aims to shed light on the ethical implications of Sweden’s arms export to Saudi Arabia. It compares the compatibility of such exports with fundamental human rights standards and analyses the Swedish Government's justification of arms trade to Saudi Arabia in relation to international and local ethics, considering the principles of human rights, conflict resolution, states’ responsibility in promoting peace and conflict resolution and the recognition of people’s shared responsibility for the well-being of all people. It analyses governmental statements, documents on arms trade and Swedish legislation in comparison to their international commitments through the lens of the analytical framework grounded in international ethics. The thesis has been conducted as a qualitative case and desk study with abductive reasoning. The findings highlight the complex tension between ethical responsibility of states in the international arena. By applying international ethics as the analytical framework, it offers insight into the role of states in promoting ethical standards in arms trade and the broader realm of international relations.

This paper seeks to conduct a first test of the explanatory potential of the poliheuristic theory of foreign policy decision-making in the context of small states. The case studied is the Swedish decision to contribute to the UN-sanctioned and NATO-led Operation Unified Protector in 2011. The paper conducts a theory-testing Causal Process Tracing (CPT) study drawing on a variety of different sources including news articles, parliamentary records, government bills, official statements and remarks made by key individuals, and secondary sources. The result of the analysis demonstrate the potential validity of the poliheuristic understanding of the decision- making process operating in a small state, but fall short of demonstrating actual validity. The final results are thus more akin to results typically found in a plausibility probe case study, and future research is deemed merited based on the potential validity found.