The purpose is to understand the reasons for changed perceptions about Swedish nuclear weapons during the time when Sweden considered acquiring these weapons. The main question is: which stories about Swedish nuclear weapons did key players in Sweden present from 1958 to 1963 and how did these stories change. Primary sources are texts from 1958– 1963, texts for or against Swedish atomic weapons, government investigations and political texts and bills. The theoretical perspective is framing analysis (Kuypers) and narrative analysis (Shenhav) unified in a method. Text-by-text, framing, agenda extension, and story are investigated and compared, supported by previous research. The analysis shows that stories can be divided into five categories, the military, the dystopian, the scientific, the state community building and the security policy stories. In 1958, the military story of nuclear weapons dominated as an issue of weapons development in the nuclear age. The following year, new stories came from opinion leaders, the yes side developed stories about the necessity of the bomb for the military and in foreign policy. The no side told stories about the consequences of a Swedish bomb as a dystopia for humanity and the collapse in foreign relations. Both told scientific stories about the effects which either ended in calming message to the people or created fear of radiation damage and the genetics of future generations. After 1959 both the Social Democrats and the military began to hesitate and changed their stories. Among other things, future civil nuclear power, economic realism and good relations with the US outweighed the idea of nuclear weapons guaranteeing a Swedish non-alliance policy. The change in the stories could also be interpreted as an early de facto no a conclusion shared by previous research. By 1963 the Social Democrats' story of a modern society without nuclear weapons dominated.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-194284 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Jakobsson, Jack |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för kultur och estetik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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