Swedish Foreign Policy. A Response to Geopolitical Factors
| Author | Ian Ronald Barnes |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677400900125 |
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Swedish
Foreign
Policy.
A
Response
to
Geopolitical
Factors
IAN
RONALD
BARNES
The
Open
University
and
Kingston
Polytechnic,
England
Barnes,
I.
R.
Swedish
Foreign
Policy.
A
Response
to
Geopolitical
Factors.
Cooperation
and
Conflict,
IX,
1974,
243-261.
Sweden
is
considered
a
nonaligned
country.
The
author
analyses
the
concepts
of
non-
alignment
and
related
theories
to
arrive
at
an
exact
definition
of
Swedish
foreign
policy.
The
second
half
of
the
article
demonstrates
how
Sweden’s
current
foreign
policy
is
a
logical
outcome
in
the
light
of
her
history
and
geopolitical
position
vis-à-vis
her
regional
and world
environment.
The
author
achieves
this
by
following
some
of
Rosenau’s
concepts
of
linkage
theories.
Ian
R.
Barnes,
The
Open
University
and
Kingston
Polytechnic,
England.
In
a
world
dominated
by
the
Soviet
Union
and
the
USA,
the
two
Cold
War
Powers,
Sweden
pursues
a
foreign
policy
exempli-
fied
by
an
armed
neutrality.
Sweden
has
escaped
armed
conflict
for
over
150
years;
this
result
has
derived
from
a
conscious
policy
aimed
at
keeping
Sweden
outside
wars.
Such
a
foreign
policy
has
comprised
a
continuous
preoccupation
with
avoiding
enmity
in
relations
with
the
stronger
Baltic
states
of
Germany
and
Russia.
The
formation
of
Sweden
as
a
sovereign
state
was
completed
by
the
sixteenth
cen-
tury.
National
independence
was
gained
by
overthrowing
the
dominance
and
hege-
mony
of
Denmark
over
the
Baltic.
Owing
to
the
lack
of
political
and
national
co-
hesion
in
continental
Europe,
Sweden
amassed
a
Baltic
Empire
in
what
is
known
as
her
Great
Power
Era.
The
death
of
King
Charles
XII
in
1718
ushered
in
the
dissolution
of
an
over-taxed
Swedish
Em-
pire
now
outrunning
its
manpower
and
economic
resources
which
were
once
capable
of
sustaining
overseas
possessions
in
Fin-
land,
and
on
the
North
German
coasts.
The
loss
of
Empire,
together
with
the
geo-
political
insularity
of
Sweden
resulted
in
a
definite
restricted
perception
of
prospec-
tive
foreign
policy
relations.
Swedes
ap-
praise
their
foreign
policy
imperatives
in
a
positive
sense
by
minimizing
risks
to
na-
tional
security
and
by
promoting
world
peace.
Swedish
neutrality
as
a
traditional
foreign
policy
only
evolved
after
the
final
defeat
of
Napoleon
in
1815;
a
policy
based
on
realistic
estimations
of
national
strength
in
manpower
and
economic
resources.
This
article
on
Swedish
foreign
policy
commences
with
an
analysis
of
the
content
of
classical
neutrality,
nonalignment
and
neutralism.
Hence,
a
workable
definition
of
Swedish
neutrality
is
ultimately
found.
Secondly,
the
article
attempts
to
solve
the
problem
of
why
Sweden
has
adopted
her
particular
foreign
policy
stance.
Resource
is
made
to
Rosenau’s
seminal
work,
Link-
age
Politics.
Rosenau
maintains
that
poli-
tics
everywhere
are
related
to
politics
everywhere
else.
Where
the
functioning
of
any
political
unit
was
once
sustained
by
structures
within
its
boundaries,
now
the
roots
of
its
political
life
can
be
traced
to
remote
comers
of
the
globe.1
The
shrinkage
of
the
world
due
to
mod-
ern
technology
has
heightened
the
inter-
dependence
in
the
political
and
physical
world.
Political
science
has
not
yet
fully
accommodated
itself
to
the
shrinking
world.
and
national-international
linkages
have
not
been
fully
studied
by researchers.
Although
some
work
has
been
implemented
on
linkage
theories,2
linkage
phenomena
have
never
received
a
systematic
treat-
ment.
National-international
linkages
have
been
treated
as
dependent
rather
than
as
independent
variables.
244
Political
science
as
an
intellectual
discipline
has
yet
to
develop
theoretical
constructs
for
explaining
the
relations
between
the
units
it
investigates
and
their
environments.3
Rosenau
argues
for
a
multidimensional
linkage
theory
arguing
that
political
anal-
ysis
would
be
greatly
facilitated
if
pro-
positions
that
link
the
stability,
function-
ing,
institutions,
and
goals
of
national
political
systems
to
variables
in
their
ex-
ternal
environments
could
be
systematical-
.
ly
developed.
Accordingly,
the
aspects
of
Swedish
-
foreign
policy
studied
in
this
article
follow
the
system
of
research
used
by
Holt
and
Turner
in
Rosenau’s
Linkage
Politics.
The
variable
taken
by
Holt
and
Turner
com-
prises
the
study
of
geopolitics,
an
aspect
of
politics
left
virtually
fallow
since
the
studies
of
Sir
Halford
Mackinder
in
his
1919
edition
of
Democratic
Ideals
and
Reality.
(Only
German
militarists
between
the
two
World
Wars
appear
to
have
studied
this
book
in
any
depth.)
Geopolitics
has
remained
a
segment
of
geographical
study
but
political
scientists
have
tended
to
ignore
it.
Sweden
occupies
an
unusual
geographical
position,
isolated
on
the
rim
of
European
affairs
in
a
virtually
land-
and
sea-locked
position.
Sweden
must,
therefore,
have
been
subjected
to
the
af-
fects
of
her
geopolitical
position
with
a
consequent
effect
on
foreign
policy
and
internal
development.
For
the
purposes
of
this
article
it
appeared
interesting
and
pertinent
to
estimate
the
results
the
ex-
ternal
environment
had
and
has
on
Swe-
dish
policy
outputs.
However,
few
theories
exist
linking
the
regional
environment
to
a
national
foreign
policy,
but
that
of
Holt
and
Turner
concerned
with
insular
states
appears
relevant
and
is
utilized.
Sweden’s
foreign
policy
has
evolved
from
a
tradition
of
neutrality
in
war
and
non-involvement
together
with
nonalign-
ment
in
any
alliance
during
times
of
peace.
The
Swedes,
however,
prefer
the
term
’non-alliance’
to
’neutrality’
or
’nonalign-
ment’.
These
latter
designations
have,
in
Swedish
eyes,
merged
with
nineteenth
century
connotations.
The
word
neutrality
tended
in
the
popular
vocabulary
to
become
synonymous
with
a
peace
policy
or
a
peace-loving
policy.
In
reality,
however,
neutrality
had
never...
been
a
consistent
password
for
Swedish
for-
eign
poliCy.4
This
semantical
dialogue
concerned
with
the
exact
meaning
of
Sweden’s
designated
foreign
policy
has
never
been
entirely
resolved.
It
seems
that
the
fact
of
neutrality
as
far
as
they
themselves
are
concerned
is
so
clear-
ly
appreciated
by
the
Swedes
that
no
definition of
it
appears
necessary.
More
often
than
not
when
it
comes
to
day-by-day
politics
no
definition
is
given
or
attempted.5
Indeed,
little
academic
attention
has
been
directed
towards
a
concise
or
ade-
quate
definition
of
Swedish
neutrality
by
Swedish
or
by
foreign
commentators.
Swe-
dish
statesmen
themselves
use
various
circumlocutions
for
neutrality,
such
as
’al-
liance-free’,
’nonaligned’,
and
’non-al-
liance’.
Considering
that
these
terms
are
by
no
means
interchangeable,
it
is
impera-
tive
to
produce
some
workable
definition
for
the
purposes
of
this
article.
Nils
Andr6n
in
Power-Balance
and
Nonalignment
maintains
that
Sweden
should
conduct
a
foreign
policy
of
non-
alignment
while
retaining
its
neutrality
in
great
power
politics.&dquo;
Andren
makes
no
attcmpt
to
enlighten
his
readers
as
to
the
nature
of
nonalignment
except
by
stating
what
the
Swedes
have
done
or
said
in
for-
eign
policy
and
then,
with
a
supreme
flourish,
states
that
Sweden
is
nonaligned.
Little
realization
is
shown
that
the
concept
of
nonalignment
is
normally
related
to
the
foreign
policies
of
the
new
Afro-
Asian
states
with
specific
relevance
to
the
cold
war
configuration
of
world
bipolarity
in
military
and
nuclear
terms.
Nonalign-
ment
relates
to
conditions
peculiarly
ap-
plying
to
the
colonial
history
and
emer-
gence
to
independence
of
these
non-
European
states
(excluding
the
special
case
of
Yugoslavia).
Even
if
Nils
Andren
possesses
some
knowledge
of
the
concept,
he
hides
it
and
fails
to
relate
it
to
his
book.
Since
Sweden’s
circumstances
differ
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