International Politics

Government 340

Literature Reivew

Prof. Skran

3/7/2014

Carl-Christian Valentin

Swedish Foreign Policy a case of Security versus Neutrality

Sweden has not always been the neutral and peaceful country

that it is today taking a leading role in promoting women’s

rights, human rights and equality. Sweden had an aggressive

nature up to 1814 where it decides to give up on its aggressive

nature and abandon its war prone attitude since it had fought

twenty five wars in the period of 300 years. Sweden decided to

change its foreign policy from an aggressive natured one to

neutrality. As most people know now Sweden has not been involved

in any military conflict itself since the nineteenth century.

Sweden’s standing concerning security and neutrality is that it

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is free from alliances that force them to engage with military

force hence enforcing their neutrality. Yet even though Sweden is

not a part of NATO it still does have security measures being an

EU member state and that has its own independent security

guarantee. There are multiple schools of thought to evaluate

Sweden’s pursuit of being free from alliances in peace and being

neutral in war the two schools that will the focus will be the

realist school and the liberal school. The realist school of

thought focuses on the anarchic style of international relations

and their interactions among them. They challenge the concept

that neutralism is utopian and that Sweden follows a realist

foreign policy on national self-interest and self-preservation.

The realist approach explains the proclaimed foreign policy of

neutrality and the varying degree of its practical application.

Whilst the liberal school shows the approach to foreign policy

with the steadfast belief of conflict resolution through

diplomacy and focus on providing aid and human rights. The goal

of this paper is to find out how Sweden’s foreign policy through

neutrality being free from alliances is used to provide security

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from a comparison between the realist and liberal school of

thought.

Foreign Policy

Foreign policy is set every year in Sweden at the Riksdag

and starts off with a statement of government policy of foreign

affairs setting Sweden’s agenda and vision on what Sweden’s role

in the world is1. Sweden’s foreign policy is split up into 14

different categories or issues this year. These categories are;

our region (Nordic region), European Union, Middle East,

Transatlantic link, Russia, Afghanistan, Africa, Security Policy,

free trade, development assistance, the climate, internet

freedom, disarmament and finally Swedish foreign service.

If one observes Sweden’s foreign policy statement for the

year what does one see, humanitarian aid to Syria, and stating

its opinion on how the Syrian civil war shall be resolved and

that is through diplomacy. Focus on human rights concern in 1 "Statement of Foreign Policy 2013." Statement of Foreign Policy 2013. Regeringskansliet, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

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Russia and the restrictions they have put on their civil society

concerning the rule of law, human rights, and free press2 .

Sweden providing air transports, and military training for the

Malian armed forces on the EU training missions to counter the

recent political instability and lawlessness in Mali. Sweden’s

focus on the climate and climate change and environmental

sustainability. This is all proof for Sweden’s peaceful agenda

for the search of peace, economic and environmental

sustainability and stability, pursuit of equality and enforcing

human rights and civil rights.

Sweden

Sweden is a relatively small country in the world yet it is

the 5th largest in Europe. It is small in consideration to the

world, yet Sweden does play a very large part in providing

humanitarian aid, enforcing human and civil rights. There is a

2 "Sweden Equals Germany in EU Foreign Policy Sway." Sweden Equals Germany in EU Foreign Policy Sway. The Local, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

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great quote that was released by SIDA the Swedish international

development agency that encapsulates Sweden’s foreign policy view

and what its beliefs and motives that are underlying in the

Swedish culture. “We are not doing this with our hearts, but

with our brains, and we have no hidden agenda – we have no reason

to help a country like Namibia; we do it because it is important

for the world community”3 . Sweden sets the bar very high for the

standard of human rights foreign policy where they promote

funding, sheltering, mediating and advocating for all of the

human rights, all over the world. “Promoting and increasing

respect for human rights is a priority issue in Swedish foreign

policy. Our commitment to human rights is in Sweden’s interests

and reflects our aspirations for a world in which people can live

in freedom and security, free from fear and want…. The principles

are: human rights are universal… it is legitimate to react… human

rights are the rights of individuals and the responsibility of

governments… rights are indivisible…”4

3 Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) official, June 8, 20044 Brysk, Alison. Global Good Samaritans: Human Rights as Foreign Policy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Google Books. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

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The European Union has its own security guarantee and it is

in the EU treaty. It is stated in Article 42(7) Treaty of

European Union and it states that: “If a Member State is the

victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member

States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance

by all the means in their power, in accordance with Article 51 of

the United Nations Charter. This shall not prejudice the

specific character of the security and defense policy of certain

Member States.” 5 This is not the only possible source of

security for the region there is also NATO as a source of

security. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that is

set in place to provide a military security assurance treaty.

“The parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes

and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their

5 "The EU Common Foreign and Security Policy: Mutual Defence and Sweden's Relation to the NATO | EU Constitutional Law | Örebro Universitet." EU Constitutional Law Rebro Universitet. N.p., n.d. Web.17 Feb. 2014. <http://eulaworebro.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/the-eu-common-foreign-and-security-policy-mutual-defence-and-swedens-relation-to-the-nato/>.

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desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments.

They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and

civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of

democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. They seek to

promote stability and well being in North Atlantic area. They

are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defence and

for the preservation of peace and security. They therefore agree

to this North Atlantic Treaty.”6 Article 5 is the articles that

is where the military obligation of how an attack on one is an

attack on all, identifying the right of individual or collective

self-defense. “The Parties agree that an armed attack against

one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be

considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree

that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise

of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized

by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist

the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith,

individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action

6 "NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization." NATO. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm>.

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as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to

restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof

shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such

measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken

the measures necessary to restore and maintain international

peace and security.”7 For those States which are members of it,

this is the foundation of their collective defense. It is quite

clear how the two are very similar. Yet one is mutual assistance

hence why it’s named the mutual assistance clause in the 42(7)

TEU, it is not equal to article 5 which is clearly defined

military alliance. The military tasks in 42(7) are there to

create a more open and liberal world. There are restrictions on

the mutual assistance clause. The two main restrictions are that

the clause should not “prejudice the specific character of the

security and defence policy of certain Member States” . So take

the example of Sweden which has remained neutral in all cases of

armed conflict since 1814. The second restriction is that the 7 NATO, 09 Mar. 2014

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clause should not affect member states commitments under their

NATO obligations. So Sweden being one of the few states that are

not a member of NATO yet still a member of the European Union.

So stating that means that Sweden theoretically speaking if an EU

state comes under attack, then Sweden, through its neutral

foreign policy and not being a member of NATO does not need to

render any aid, or assistance. Yet if Sweden was attacked other

states would be obliged to intervene and provide assistance

through their commitments to TEU. So from Sweden’s perspective

that is a win-win situation where they can focus more on what

they deem to be important, since its long standing commitment to

neutrality it does not need to focus now on protecting its

borders or its national sovereignty from exterior threats.

The realist approach is focused on the questions of order and

stability on the international field. Theorists such as

Morgenthau, Walt, Hopper, Sundelius and Mearsheimer regard the

world as anarchic where nation states look for opportunities to

take advantage of each other, moments where they can exploit each

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other’s weaknesses to their own gains.8 According to the realist

school of thought states are always competing with each other for

power and, hence they seek not to resolve their conflicts through

peaceful means such as speeches, interaction between leaders and

democratic process. Instead they seek to resolve their problems

through armed conflict. Thanks to this a state’s survival is

heavily dependent on its alliances, military power, and other

resources also known as sources of hard power.

Morgenthau states with his balance of power theory that the

equilibrium of power exists on the level of international

relations when there is a balance between opposing forces.

Morgenthau’s theory of balance of power explains that the concept

of national security is dependent on the military power of other

states, if the power is not evenly distribted then, the states

that are more powerful will dominate the less powerful states.

This leads to the fact that these smaller states will feel

threatned and create alliances and coalitions to counter act the

8 7 John J. Mearsheimer, “The False Promise of International Institutions,” International Security 19, no. 3: 5-49.

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power and lessen the incentive to attack and thus create security

for themselves. This leads into another theory portrayed by Walt

is the balance of threat theory. Walt’s balance of threat theory

states that a “a state’s behavior is determined by the threat it

perceives from other states.” When a state is under threat, a

state can choose to get involved either in balancing or bandwagon

behavior.9 . Balancing being the considered by realist theorists

as the more efficient choice in bipolar power systems as each

large power player has no choice but to confront each other.

Bandwagoning is the action of hopping on the bandwagon with the

source of threat hence the name, a state will seek to align

itself with threat being perceived. Balancing being the more

frequently and prevalent option that is followed according to

Walt.

Hopper brings forward a third option for small states that

counteracts the balancing and bandwagoning principles from Walt.

Hopper states that “the Great Powers prove unable to collaborate

9 Ernst B. Haas, “The Balance of Power: Prescription, Concept, or Propaganda,”World Politics 5, no. 4: 442-477.

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on a basis of justice, then neutrality remains an emergency exit

for small states.”.10 Small states like Sweden as stated before

manage to assert two things for themselves through their foreign

policy of neutrality this way. They secure both their own

territory, and they have a political system free from alliances

so they do not have to commit themselves in providing aid either

military or just assistance. This provides the small states a

means of ensuring their own security, without either joining a

coalition or alliance, and neither by aligning to the threat they

have perceived, but by securing their independence through a

foreign policy free from alliances , neutrality.

Sundelius being a Swedish scholar provides an interesting

realist perspective to the cause, and he emphasizes two things

the geographical location that a country has and the strategic

benefits that it has, these two points combined aid in guiding in

which direction ones foreign policy should take, aggressive,

defensive or in the case of Sweden neutrality. Sundelius

10 Bruce Hopper, “A Case Study in Neutrality,” Foreign Affairs 23, no. 3 (April 1945), http://www.jstor.org/stable/20029908

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proclaims in his work that “Sweden’s location within the orbits

of East-West tensions is the key factor for the country’s

decision to adopt a policy of neutrality aimed at securing

independence by means of political and military non-alignment”.11

This statement helps enforce the common view of Sweden’s role as

a mediator and bridge builder, this role was especially clear

during the cold war era with the Winter War with Russia going to

war against Finland. Sweden served its role as mediator and a

bridge between the communist Eastern bloc and soviet Russia and

the western democratic states.

There is another perspective one that has been lightly

brushed upon but not clearly identified and that is the role that

Culturalism plays in Sweden’s decision to be free from alliances

and binding assistance and intervention programs. “Culturalism,

on the other hand, focuses on Sweden’s homogeneity of population,

legitimacy of government, and gender equality and comes to the

conclusion that the policy of neutrality is a reflection of

national mentality.”12 This is an angle which is not pursued 11 Bengt Sundelius, ed., The Committed Neutral (Boudler: Westview Press, 1989)12 Hetmanchuk, Swedish Foreign Policy: Neutrality vs Security

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enough in literature, and leaves a gap for future research to be

done concerning Sweden and how it attempts to identify itself on

the international relations and political scene. How it wishes

the outside world views them, and that justifying and explaining

Sweden’s reasoning for its actions.

This view is portrayed through Brysk, as she talks about

Sweden’s role in promoting human rights as foreign policy in her

book Global Good Samaritans. As she states that “Sweden

represents a gold standard in another way as well, in that human

promotion is grounded in a high level of affluence and

security”13 through this statement she proclaims that Sweden has

the leading role on the global agenda on being a global good

Samaritan and leads by example on how other nations to act to

improve the world that we all live in. Sweden has a long

historic diplomatic commitment, multilateralism and a aid policy

which Sweden is maybe most well-known for up to the point in 2006

when there was a change of government from conservative the

“social democratic hegemony” to the moderate government of today

13 Brysk, Global Good Samaritans: Human Rights as Foreign Policy

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which has led to the current alignment with the weight being

placed on the promotion of human rights and civil rights. To

emphasize Sweden’s steadfast support in human rights is Sweden’s

dedication both economically and through the lives of its

citizens. As it puts its military and its citizens into unsafe

situations as it gets involved into peacekeeping operations and

donates millions of dollars every year.14 Even though Sweden is

not a member in NATO the North Atlantic treaty organization it

still sent troops to serve under NATO in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Through these economic commitments and through sending their own

Swedish soldiers into conflicts to support and help in peace

keeping operations.

Conclusion

Through analysis of the concept from different perspectives and

theorist schools, one comes to the conclusion that Sweden’s

14 Brysk, Global Good Samaritans: Human Rights as Foreign Policy

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foreign policy that is oriented around its independence from

tying agreements of military intervention and commitments of

providing military assistance. Yet different theorists and

different schools have disagreements on Sweden’s reasoning for

their pursuit of their neutrality. Sweden, having given up on

its pursuit of power and expansion after enduring a time of war.

Sweden was sick of its aggressive foreign policy after having a

period of nearly constant war for 300 years. Sweden realized the

options that were laid out infront of them which was later

identified as balance of power theory, balance of threat theory

and Hopper’s theory of neutrality as a form of escape. That

choice of remaining neutral has held strong since 1814. Sweden

sought peace for realist reasons, they felt that they could no

longer compete, and did not want to compete any longer with its

war prone neighbors, it changed its view slowly over time.

Sweden has become less focused on its security maintaining its

sovereignty, since other great powers did not see them as a

threat, the only position left that foreign nations would have

interest in Sweden at this point is its geo-strategic location

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pointed out by Sundelius and its resources such as raw

materials. Since Sweden had the opportunity to move away from a

focus of military security, it allowed for it to pursuit in other

areas where it deemed more important on the global scale, that is

the pursuit in enforcing human rights and civil rights, climate

sustainment and help resolve conflicts through peaceful means.

The main gap that in the research done was to find not reasons

towards why Sweden became neutral, but the reasoning behind

Sweden being so set into its values of enforcing human rights,

civil rights, justice and climate sustainment, there are light

touches upon cultural reasons for why Sweden is focused upon

those areas yet not enough work has been done and not enough

concrete statements have been made. That leaves space for future

research to be done in figuring out the mentality of Sweden and

its focus on trying to be what was characterized by Brysk as the

“Global Good Samaritan” .

Appendix

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Bibliography

Secondary

Walt, Stephen M. "Alliance Formation and the Balance of World

Power." JSTOR. N.p., 1985. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.christoph-

rohde.de/waltallianceformationandbop1985.pdf>.

Realist perspective on the balance of world power

Realist perspective on how alliances are formed

Balance of threat theory

Schweller, Randall L. “Bandwagoning for Profit.” International

Security 19, no. 1

(1994). http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539149

Support Walt’s claims of balance of threat theory

Further explanation of bandwagoning and balance

Sundelius, Bengt. The Committed Neutral. Boudler: Westview Press,

1989

Benefits of geographical and strategic location in

determining ones foreign policy

Aggressive, defensive, neutral foreign policy

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Morgenthau, Hans J. “The Resurrection of Neutrality in Europe.”

The American Political

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/1948801

Balance of power theory

"The EU Common Foreign and Security Policy: Mutual Defence and

Sweden's Relation to the NATO | EU Constitutional Law | �rebro

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Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

<http://eulaworebro.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/the-eu-common-

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both foreign and security policy

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Björn Fägersten, Ph.D Utrikespolitiska Institutet. "European

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id=2qCnuOaL3QsC&pg=PA192&dq=swedish+foreign+policy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=

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id=22De3XuwdZ0C&pg=PT277&dq=swedish+foreign+policy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=

20

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• Foreign policy in relation to human rights

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Ernst B. Haas, “The Balance of Power: Prescription, Concept, or

Propaganda,” World Politics 5, no. 4: 1953

Realist theorist

Balance of power theory for world politics

Bruce Hopper, “A Case Study in Neutrality,” Foreign Affairs 23,

no. 3 (April 1945), http://

www.jstor.org/stable/20029908 (accessed March 7, 2014).

Provides a realist perspective

Neutrality as an exit for small states

Neutrality to secure territory and political independence

Buffer zone between east and west in the case of Sweden

(cold war)

Primary

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"Sweden Equals Germany in EU Foreign Policy Sway." Sweden Equals

Germany in EU Foreign Policy Sway. The Local, n.d. Web. 17 Feb.

2014.

• Comparison with other European countries such as Germany in

the amount of power that Sweden has in consideration for how much

Sweden sets the bar in matters of foreign policy

• How countries should act in consideration of foreign policy

Normative Europeanization: The Case of Swedish Foreign Policy

Reorientation. 2012 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters,

2013: Sage Journals Cooperation and Conflict, n.d. PDF.

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• Where Sweden is right now in its foreign policy

• Where Sweden is changing its foreign policy to and in which

direction its going to go

• Neutrality vs security

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(Paper Draft for the ISA 2013 Convention, 3-6 April 2013, San

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Francisco, USA) Author: Jan Martin Rolenc University of

Economics, Prague, Czech Republic. N.p.: n.p., n.d. PDF

• Means, Goals and sources of foreign policy in the case of

Sweden

• Choice of means can determine success in foreign policy

• Foreign policies are perceived and evaluated not only by

their substantive outcomes but also their style

• Legitimacy as a condition for efficiency

"Statement of Foreign Policy 2013." Statement of Foreign Policy

2013. Regeringskansliet, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

• Statement of Sweden’s current foreign policy

Daniel Levy & François Godement & Hans Kundnani & Kadri Liik &

Mark Leonard & Richard Gowan - 30 Jan 14. European Foreign Policy

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Natallia Hetmanchuk MSPS/MPA Candidate 2012 Government Department

Suffolk University Boston, MA 02108-2770. SWEDISH FOREIGN POLICY:

NEUTRALITY VS. SECURITY. N.p.: n.p., n.d. PDF.

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• The core of the argument of neutrality vs security

• The fine line between neutrality and political affinity

• Demonstrates that the policy of neutrality is a complex and

multi dimensional phenomenon

• Provides a realist perspective rather than the liberal

perspectives that is more frequent in sweden

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