The foreign policy of Sweden was formerly based on the premise that national security is best served by staying free of alliances in peacetime in order to remain a neutral country in the event of war, with this policy lasting from 1814 in the context of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars until the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In 2002, Sweden revised its security doctrine. The security doctrine at that point still stated that "Sweden pursues a policy of non-participation in military alliances," but permitted cooperation in response to threats against peace and security. The government also seeks to maintain Sweden's high standard of living. These two objectives required heavy expenditures for social welfare, defence spending at rates considered low by Western European standards (around 1.2% of GNP prior to 2022),[1] and close attention to foreign trade opportunities and world economic cooperation. In 2024, Sweden formally became part of a military alliance for the first time since the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition by joiningNATO.
The foreign policy of Sweden encompasses a range of themes over the centuries. Some of the main issues include:[2][3][4][5]
Sweden has historically pursued a policy of neutrality, aiming to avoid involvement in conflicts between major powers. This neutrality allowed Sweden to navigate the tumultuous European political landscape and maintain its sovereignty. It dropped the neutrality policy in 2022–2024 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and joined NATO on 7 March 2024.
Sweden has sought to maintain a balance of power in Northern Europe, acting as a counterweight to dominant regional powers. This approach aimed to prevent any single power from gaining excessive influence and threatening Swedish interests.
Sweden's historical dominance in the Baltic Sea region played a crucial role in shaping its diplomatic history. Through territorial expansion, Sweden established control over strategic territories, such as present-day Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and parts of Russia, impacting its relations with neighboring states.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Sweden emerged as a major European power, participating in conflicts such as the Thirty Years' War and the Great Northern War. Its diplomatic efforts were often influenced by power struggles with other European great powers, such as Russia and Poland.
Sweden has actively engaged in peace mediation efforts, seeking to resolve conflicts and broker peace agreements. Notable examples include the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War, and various mediation efforts during the 20th century.
Sweden has a longstanding tradition of promoting international cooperation, human rights, and humanitarian initiatives. It has been involved in the establishment of international organizations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations, and has championed causes such as humanitarian aid and disarmament.
Sweden has pursued close ties and cooperation with its neighboring Nordic countries, particularly Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. This commitment to Scandinavian unity has been reflected in diplomatic initiatives, trade agreements, and cultural exchanges.
Sweden's relationship with the European Union (EU) has been a significant theme in its recent diplomatic history. While Sweden joined the EU in 1995, it has maintained a somewhat reserved approach, often balancing its national interests with EU membership.
Sweden has been an advocate for global development and has provided substantial aid to developing countries. It has sought to address global inequalities and promote sustainable development through its aid programs, often challenging neocolonial practices.
In the 21st century, Sweden has gained attention for its feminist foreign policy approach, which aims to integrate gender equality into its diplomatic efforts. Sweden has been a leading advocate for women's rights globally, emphasizing the inclusion and empowerment of women in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and development processes.
Sweden has been a member of the United Nations since November 19, 1946, and participates actively in the activities of the organization, including as an elected member of the Security Council (1957–1958, 1975–1976, 1997–1998 and 2017–2018), providing Dag Hammarskjöld as the second elected Secretary-General of the UN, etc. The strong interest of the Swedish Government and people in international cooperation and peacemaking has been supplemented in the early 1980s by renewed attention to Nordic and European security questions.
After the then Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson had submitted Sweden's application in July 1991 the negotiations began in February 1993. Finally, on January 1, 1995, Sweden became a member of the European Union. While some argued that it went against Sweden's historic policy of neutrality, where Sweden had not joined during the Cold War because it was seen as incompatible with neutrality, others viewed the move as a natural extension of the economic cooperation that had been going on since 1972 with the EU.[citation needed] Sweden addressed this controversy by reserving the right not to participate in any future EU defence alliance. In membership negotiations in 1993–1994, Sweden also had reserved the right to make the final decision on whether to join the third stage of the EMU "in light of continued developments." In a nationwide referendum in November 1994, 52.3 percent of participants voted in favour of EU membership. Voter turnout was high, 83.3 percent of the eligible voters voted. The main Swedish concerns included winning popular support for EU cooperation, EU enlargement, and strengthening the EU in areas such as economic growth, job promotion, and environmental issues.
In polls taken a few years after the referendum, many Swedes indicated that they were unhappy with Sweden's membership in the EU. However, after Sweden successfully hosted its first presidency of the EU in the first half of 2001, most Swedes today have a more positive attitude towards the EU. The government, with the support of the Center Party, decided in spring 1997 to remain outside of the EMU, at least until 2002. A referendum was held on September 14, 2003. The results were 55.9% for no, 42.0% yes and 2.1% giving no answer ("blank vote").
Swedish foreign policy has been the result of a wide consensus. Sweden cooperates closely with its Nordic neighbors, formally in economic and social matters through the Nordic Council of Ministers and informally in political matters through direct consultation.
Swedish neutrality and nonalignment policy in peacetime may partly explain how the country could stay out of wars since 1814. Swedish governments have not defined nonalignment as precluding outspoken positions in international affairs. Government leaders have favored national liberation movements that enjoy broad support among developing world countries, with notable attention to Africa. During the Cold War, Sweden was suspicious of the superpowers, which it saw as making decisions affecting small countries without always consulting those countries. With the end of the Cold War, that suspicion has lessened somewhat, although Sweden still chooses to remain nonaligned. Sweden has devoted particular attention to issues of disarmament, arms control, and nuclear nonproliferation and has contributed importantly to UN and other international peacekeeping efforts, including the NATO-led peacekeeping forces in the Balkans. It sat as an observer in the Western European Union from 1995 to 2011, but it is not an active member of NATO's Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.
Sweden's engagement with NATO was especially strengthened during the term of Anders Fogh Rasmussen.[7]
Sweden's nonalignment policy has led it to serve as the protecting power for a number of nations who don't have formal diplomatic relations with each other for various reasons. It currently represents the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations in North Korea for consular matters. On several occasions when the United Kingdom broke off relations with Iran (including the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Salman Rushdie affair, and the 2011 storming of the British embassy in Tehran), Sweden served as the protecting power for the UK.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in March 2022 that her government would have to respond if Sweden became a NATO member.[9] However, in June 2022 President Vladimir Putin contradicted the statement, claiming that Sweden and Finland can "join whatever they want" on the condition that there will be no NATO military deployment in either country.[10]
Sweden has employed its military on numerous occasions since the end of the Cold War, from Bosnia and Congo to Afghanistan and Libya. According to one study, "this military activism is driven both by the Swedish internationalist tradition of "doing good" in the world, but also for instrumental purposes. These include a desire for political influence in international institutions, an interest in collective milieu shaping, and a concern to improve the interoperability and effectiveness of the Swedish military."[11]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 27 October 1957 when has been accredited Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Sudan (Resident in Addis Ababa) Dr. Bjorn Axel Eyvind Bratt.[84]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 29 May 1964 when Mr. Otto Gustaf Rathsman presented his credentials as Sweden's Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to President Nyerere.[109]
Relations with Canada are close, positive and constructive. Both countries have strong commitments to peacekeeping, UN reform, development assistance, environmental protection, sustainable development, and the promotion and protection of human rights.[219] In addition, there are more than 300,000 Canadians of Swedish descent.[220]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 5 September 1897 when has been accredited first Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Persia to Sweden with residence in St. Peterbourg Mirza Reza Khan Ar Faed-Doouleh.[36]
The Swedish Embassy in Iraq is permanently closed after attacks by protesters over Quran Burning on the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Iraq severed ties with Sweden since July 2023, after Swedish authorities allowed a man to burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy, Stockholm.[235][236][237]
Diplomatic relations were established in 1958.[88] Sweden has an embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia has an embassy in Stockholm. As of 2009, 90 Swedish companies are present in Malaysia and about 450 Swedish citizens live in Malaysia.
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 24 June 1947 when has been accredited Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Syria with residence in Cairo Mr. Widar Bagge.[243]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 23 February 1837 when has been accredited Chargé d'Affaires of Belgium to Sweden baron T. Vander Straten Ponthoz.[24]
There is an ethnic group of Walloons living in Sweden making up the 8,000 Belgians living in Sweden and 5,000 Swedes living in Belgium.
Belgium has an embassy in Stockholm.
Sweden has an ambassador accredited to Belgium based in Stockholm.
Finnish–Swedish relations have a long history (Sweden and Finland were the same country for several hundred years), due to the close relationship between Finland and Sweden. Particularly in Finland, the issue emerges in frequent exposés of Finnish history, and in motives for governmental proposals and actions as reported in Finnish news broadcasts in English or other foreign languages. In Sweden, this relationship is a recurrent important theme of 20th-century history, although maybe by most Swedes considered to be an issue of purely historical relevance now that both countries have been members of the European Union since 1995.
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 24 January 1833 when Carl Peter von Heidenstam (until then Consul General) has been appointed as Chargé d'Affaires of the Kingdom of Sweden and Norway in Greece.[23]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 23 December 1859 when has been appointed first interim Chargé d'Affaires Giov. Antonio Migliorati.[26]
Sweden recognized Kosovo on March 4, 2008.[252] Liaison Office of Sweden in Pristina, subordinated to the embassy in Skopje, North Macedonia.[253] On March 8, 2008, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt became the first foreign minister to officially visit Kosovo since it declared its independence.[254] Sweden currently has 243 troops serving in Kosovo as peacekeepers in the NATO led Kosovo Force.[255]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 12 June 1992[258]
Sweden is one of Moldova's top donors. From 1996, Sweden provided Moldova with technical assistance worth 30 million dollars, which significantly helped strengthen sectors such as: protection of human rights, democracy, good governance, public health, education, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, transport and the private sector. Much of the aid is delivered through the Swedish International Development Agency.[259][260] In 2007, the Swedish Government established the 2007–2010 strategy of cooperation with Moldova, which sees 11 million euros in financial assistance annually for three important sectors: good governance, strengthening of com petitiveness in the rural area and reduction of vulnerability in the energy sector.[259]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 13 January 1992[261]
A Ukrainian information bureau was opened 1916 in Stockholm by Volodymyr Stepankivskyi and M. Zaliznyak. In 1918 an official diplomatic mission from the Ukrainian People's Republic headed by K. Lossky was opened in Stockholm.[262] Diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Sweden were established on January 13, 1992.
^Franklin D. Scott, Sweden: The Nation's History (1988)
^Erik Thomson, "Beyond the Military State: Sweden’s Great Power Period in Recent Historiography." History Compass 9.4 (2011): 269-283. online[permanent dead link]
^Patrick Salmon, Scandinavia and the great powers 1890-1940 (2002). online.
^Libro amarillo correspondiente al año ...: presentado al Congreso Nacional en sus sesiones ordinarias de ... por el titular despacho (in Spanish). Venezuela. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 2003. pp. 528–529.
^Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan, ed. (1874). Treaties and Conventions concluded between Empire of Japan and Foreign Nations, together with Regulations and Communications 1854-1874. Tokyo: Nisshu-sha Printing Office. pp. table of contents.
^Wright, Herbert Francis (1929). Actas Da Conferencia Internacional Americana de Conciliação E de Arbitramento, Washington, 10 de Dezembro 1928-5 de Janeiro de 1929 (in Portuguese). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 251.
^Informe del Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores al Congreso Ordinario de ... (in Spanish). Ecuador. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 1928. p. 107. ... Suecia de esta- blecer la representación diplomática permanen- te de ese país en el Ecuador, en 21 de Septiem- bre de 1931 presentó el Excelentísimo Señor Einar Modig las Cartas Credenciales ...
^Vem var det? Biografier över bortgångna svenska män och kvinnor, samt kronologisk förteckning över skilda ämbetens och tjänsters innehavare (in Swedish). Norstedt. 1944. p. 256. Nicaragua. Anderberg, Gylfe ........ 1936-37
^Vem var det? Biografier över bortgångna svenska män och kvinnor, samt kronologisk förteckning över skilda ämbetens och tjänsters innehavare (in Swedish). Norstedt. 1944. p. 257. Nicaragua. Anderberg, Gylfe ........ 1936-37
^British Documents on Foreign Affairs--reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: South and Central America, July 1942-December 1942. Great Britain. Foreign Office, James Dunkerley, Michael Partridge, Paul Preston. 1998. p. 169.
^British Documents on Foreign Affairs--reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: Africa, January 1950-December 1950. University Publications of America. 1999. p. 333. Ethiopia ... Sweden M. Widar Bagge, Minister, 27th December, 1945
^Cahiers de l'Institut d'études de l'Orient contemporain Volumes 2-3, Issues 5-8 (in French). Université de Paris. Institut d'études de l'Orient contemporain. 1946. p. 85.
^ ab"National Day of Sweden Celebrations in Malaysia". Scandasia.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009. 6 June 2008 does not only represent the National Day of Sweden, but also marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between Sweden and Malaysia. ...
^"Suède". Royaume du Maroc Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres et de la Cooperation (in French). Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
^ ab"Overview". Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Korea. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
^Chronologie politique africaine Volumes 5-7 (in French). Centre d'etude des relations internationales (France). Section monde arabe. 1964. p. 33. 24 sept. Etablissement de relations diplomatiques, au niveau des ambassades, avec la Suede, annonce officiellement a Yaounde.
^Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish). Almqvist & Wiksells. 1966. p. 295. KONGO ( BRAZZAVILLE ) Sändebud Malm, Dag Einar Jonas [ se Kongo Léopoldville ], 65 .
^Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish). Almqvist & Wiksells. 1966. p. 293. GABON Sändebud Malm, Dag Einar Jonas [ se Kongo Léopoldville ], 65 .
^Africa Year Book and Who's who. Africa Journal Limited. 1976. p. 1233.
^Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish). Almqvist & Wiksells. 1975. p. 422. Envoye (även anställd i Lesotho och Swaziland) Westerberg, Erik Osvald Lennart, Fil.o.Pol.M.,17; 73
^"News". Mauritius High Commission London. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
^Register över Sveriges internationella överenskommelser (in Swedish). Utrikesdepartementet. April 2, 1998. p. 61. ISBN9789138313893.
^Australian Foreign Affairs Record. Vol. 48. Australian Government Pub. Service. 1977. p. 192.
^Muzart-Fonseca dos Santos, Idelette; Manuel Da Costa Esteves, José; Rolland, Denis (2007). Les îles du Cap-Vert: langues, mémoires, histoire (in French). L'Harmattan. pp. 239–240.
^Wertz, Daniel; Oh, JJ; Kim, Insung (August 2016). Issue Brief: DPRK Diplomatic Relations(PDF). The National Committee on North Korea. p. 4. Archived(PDF) from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
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