Sweden's Grand Strategy : Predicaments of a Small Liberal State in a Hostile World

Abstract

This book traces the evolution of Sweden’s grand strategy from 1945 to 2024, understood as a coherent policy encapsulating an overarching idea of how a state achieves its national objectives. In the book, small state grand strategy is identified through national foreign policy roles which at certain times coalesce into master roles forming the basis of grand strategy. During this period, Sweden’s foreign policy roles were shaped according to the degree of autonomy and integration deemed necessary for security, economic development and social cohesion as perceived by the domestic political elite. Four foreign policy action strategies building on domestic agency and the influence of systemic structures depict the domestic process of role adaptation. The ensuing empirical analysis identifies a set of evolving roles. The autonomous security seeker, based on a policy of neutrality and strong national defence, acted as Sweden’s master role during the Cold War, complemented by the roles of autonomous activist and hesitant European. After the Cold War, the role of integrated security provider emerged but subsided in 2022, when a new role of integrated security seeker emerged as Sweden applied for membership of NATO. In parallel, the role of European integrationist gradually strengthened in tandem with the role of security provider, eventually merging into a coherent role set together with the new master role of an integrated security seeker, combining alliance memberships of the EU and NATO. This role set is a manifestation of Sweden’s grand strategy in an increasingly unstable international security environment.