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Swedish Exceptionalism in Foreign Policy Discourse

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Swedish Exceptionalism in Foreign Policy Discourse STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY Department of Economic History and International Relations Master's Thesis in International Relations with specialization in Global Political Economy Spring Term 2020 Student: Elin Lager Supervisor: Gonzalo Pozo Martin Swedish Exceptionalism in Foreign Policy Discourse An Analysis of the Swedish Government’s Statements of Foreign Policy 2002-2018 1 Abstract This thesis aims to determine if there is a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism in the Swedish Government’s Statements of Foreign Policy between 2002 and 2018. Discourse analysis have been used to analyze eight statements, based on a constructivist framework and the theoretical concept of Swedish exceptionalism. Swedish exceptionalism is the idea of Sweden having a self-image of being superior to others, mainly based on the country’s understanding of itself as being a “moral superpower”. The research question formulated was: Are the Swedish Government’s Statements of Foreign Policy, between 2002 and 2018, articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism? To determine if there was a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism in the Statements of Foreign Policy, seven key representations of the concept were established. Those were Sweden: 1. being military non-aligned 2. having an active foreign policy 3. being pioneering or “leading the way” 4. bringing security, stability, and peace 5. being a champion of human rights and democracy 6. acting as mediator and/or a bridge builder 7. showing solidarity with “less fortune states” (developing, vulnerable and/or small) The results of the empirical study were that all key representations were present in all of the statements analyzed, which lead to the conclusion is that the Statements of Foreign Policy between 2002 and 2018 were articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism. Key words; Swedish exceptionalism, moral superpower, national exceptionalism, discourse analysis, Swedish foreign policy discourse, superiority, Persson government, Reinfeldt government, Löfven government. 2 Table of Content 1. INTRODUCTION 5 1.1. Purpose and research question 6 1.2. Research gap 7 1.3. Disposition 8 2. BACKGROUND 9 2.1. Swedish political system 9 2.2. Swedish political history 1914 - 2002 10 2.3. Persson II 2002 – 2006 16 2.4. Reinfeldt I 2006 – 2010 18 2.5. Reinfeldt II 2010 – 2014 21 2.6. Löfven I 2014 – 2018 22 2.7. Concluding remarks 2002-2018 25 3. THEORY 26 3.1. Constructivism in international relations/foreign policy analysis 26 3.2. Swedish exceptionalism 29 4. METHOD 34 4.1. Discourse analysis 34 4.1.1 Swedish exceptionalism as a discourse 35 4.2. Material to analyze 36 4.3. Analytical procedure 37 5. EMPIRICAL SECTION 39 5.1. Persson II 2002-2006 39 5.1.1. Statement of Foreign Policy 2003 39 5.1.2. Statement of Foreign Policy 2006 40 5.2. Reinfeldt I 2006-2010 42 5.2.1. Statement of Foreign Policy 2007 42 5.2.2 Statement of Foreign Policy 2010 44 5.3. Reinfeldt II 2010-2014 46 5.3.1. Statement of Foreign Policy 2011 46 5.3.2. Statement of Foreign Policy 2014 48 3 5.4. Löfven I 2014-2018 49 5.4.1. Statement of Foreign Policy 2015 49 5.4.2. Statement of Foreign Policy 2018 51 5.5. Joint analysis 2002 - 2018 54 6. CONCLUSIONS 56 REFERENCES 59 4 1. Introduction An important question for any government is how it should interact with other countries. This matter is always on the political agenda before political elections. However, foreign policy is not only something which often characterizes the political discourse in a country - it also has a direct impact on the lives of many people worldwide. In brief terms, a government’s foreign policy outlines how it aims to deal with, and in relation to, nations other than itself. The foreign policy can include; which countries it should cooperate with in matters of national security, which countries it should trade with, and whether or not it should intervene in conflicts occurring in other countries. Large nations’ foreign policies have in modern times had a considerable and lasting impact on countries all around the world. Both the World Wars, the Cold War, and the War on Terror have all shaped the political stage of today. Although larger nations are often the ones studied in issues of foreign policy, smaller countries could also have a great impact on their neighbors and the world. In forums like the European Union and the United Nation, as well as in military alliances like NATO, all countries have a vote. Although one’s vote in such forums are proportional to the size of the country, some smaller countries have embarked on a mission of having an even greater influence on others through an active foreign policy. One such country is Sweden. In the literature, Sweden’s foreign policy has been studied in dept, often taken in to account its’ special stand as pursuing an independent foreign policy while still being heavily involved international cooperation. The country seems to have a more active and participating role than other similar countries, like Denmark or Norway. A question one might ask oneself is why Sweden is different to its neighbors. What kind of self- image does Sweden, in fact, have? Within the constructivist field of foreign policy analysis, there have long been an interest in state identity and how it shapes countries foreign policy behavior. Within this research area there is the so-called national exceptionalism, the self-belief of a country that it is exceptional in comparison to others. In the literature, American exceptionalism have been extensively 5 studied, with the United States is often understood as having an exceptional self-image, primary based on the country being the world’s only superpower. However, there is also a small research field on Swedish exceptionalism. In this, Sweden’s exceptional self-image is very different from the American, being primarily based on the Sweden being a “moral superpower”. Although it may not be the cause of divergence of foreign policy in practice, understanding how a country like Sweden views its role in the world, can be important. While the US’ exceptionalism has been characterized by large military operations and having decisive roles in a multitude of wars all around the globe, this must not be the only way a country’s exceptionalism can be defined. For Sweden, some argues that their self-image is rather defined as staying out of conflicts and being the world’s conscious. It needs to be remembered, that in the end, no matter if exceptionalism is based on military or moral strength, is always boils down to one word – superiority. This thesis seeks to explore how this moral superiority, Swedish exceptionalism, plays out in foreign policy discourse. It will do so by analyzing the Swedish Government’s Statement of Foreign Policy, to see if they are articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism. 1.1. Purpose and research question The purpose of this thesis is to determine if Swedish foreign policy is articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism. This will be done through conducting a discourse analysis of the transcripts of the Swedish Governments Statement of Foreign Policy, which is a speech held every year by the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs in front of the Riksdag. I wanted to look at contemporary foreign policy discourse and have a time frame that included government consisting of different parties. Therefore, I will analyze statements from four different government terms during 2002-2018. • Persson II 2002-2006 Social democratic minority government. • Reinfeldt I 2006-2010 Centre-right/liberal-conservative majority coalition government, also known as “The Alliance”. 6 • Reinfeldt II 2010-2014 Centre-right/liberal-conservative minority coalition government, also known as “The Alliance”. • Löfven I 2014-2018 Social Democratic-Green Party minority coalition government. My research is built on the constructivist framework and theoretical concepts of National exceptionalism, which is built on the work by several scholars but mainly David Jansson and Hilde Eliassen Restad. The concept of Swedish exceptionalism as is built mainly on the work of Jansson and Ann-Sofie Dahl. Research question: Are the Swedish Government’s Statements of Foreign Policy, between 2002 and 2018, articulated through a discourse of Swedish exceptionalism? 1.2. Research gap In searching for “Swedish exceptionalism” much of the research articles does not use it as a concept, but instead a descriptive term. It also tends to be argumentative and materialist in the sense that Swedish exceptionalism is understood as something, which can be proven true or false through empirical work on events, policy changes, individual politicians or parties and so on. In short, it is about establishing if Sweden is a good country or not based on the state’s action. If turning to the research on national exceptionalism that focus on the theoretical concept, the majority of academic literature on national exceptionalism focus on American exceptionalism.1 Though there are similarities between American and Swedish exceptionalism, there are significant differences. Which superiority depends on more traditional power structures in the US dominating world politics. Superiority in Swedish exceptionalism on the other hand is based on Sweden being morally righteous. This will be further explored in the theory section. 1 Jansson, David. Deadly exceptionalism, or, would you rather be crushed by a moral superpower or a military superpower?. Political Geography. Vol. 64, 2018: 83 7 To further the national exceptionalism research fields there has to be more research that is not centered around the US. The need for research on Swedish exceptionalism will be especially valuable since its characteristic is in sharp contrast to the US, and therefor will help give a better and broader understanding of the concept.
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