HBC Rudberg 2023 01 25 (600 Kb)

In the seminar paper, Pontus Rudberg aims to nuance the claims of recent research about Sweden’s policies and actions during the war on the one hand, and, on the other, about the country’s evolving post-war narrative. It does so by widening the perspective beyond the Swedish government's neutral stance to include the country's relation to humanitarian issues, especially its responses to the plight of European Jewry. It argues that there is a connection between Swedish humanitarian efforts during the war and the country's post-WWII involvement in international politics. In other words, the paper argues that Sweden mainly followed what could be called a ‘small-state liberal’ (and idealistic) path rather than a ‘small-state realist’ one during the Second World War. It shows that liberalism, idealism and beliefs in higher principles (like the rule of law and international cooperation) constitute a thread that runs through Sweden’s foreign policy throughout the 20th century.