The European Internationalist

Sweden and European Security Cooperation

Resumo

Swedish security and defence policy has changed radically since the end of the Cold War. Swedish neutrality has been abandoned and non-alignment is only relevant in terms of standing free of any military alliance commitments. Sweden is a staunch supporter of the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) of the European Union and a keen partner within the NATO framework of cooperation. These policies would have been unthinkable during the Cold War. Yet, this article suggests that these profound changes to Swedish security and defence policy have been framed within a Swedish foreign policy tradition of ‘doing good’ in the world that predates the end of the Cold War; a role conception of moralistic internationalism. Swedish involvement within the ESDP and NATO-operations is thus seen to be serving Swedish broader concepts of security. This explains why Sweden has so rapidly come to embrace EU and NATO co-operation and why the subsequent changes to Swedish security and defence policy have stirred so little controversy in the domestic political debate.