Sveriges initiala EU-nej: en kvalitativ textanalys av Sveriges motivering för initiala nekanden av Europeiska Unionens säkerhet- och försvarsförslag

Författare

Tova Zettersten Gerlöw

Summary, in English

Over time, Sweden has demonstrated a stable policy line across governments, marked by a critical view of further EU integration in the area of security and defence. There is a strong tendency in Sweden to initially reject EU proposals in this domain and widely advocated that this area is best managed at a national level. Over the past seven years, Sweden has initially rejected several EU proposals related to security and defence, including an expanded Civil Protection Mechanism, joint borrowing for the COVID-19 recovery package, and joint borrowing to increase the Union’s defence budget. Through a case study of these initial rejections and a qualitative text analysis, this thesis examines the Swedish government’s reasoning behind its initial rejection of these proposals and explores what these justifications reveal about the consistency of Sweden’s approach to security and defence matters. The thesis delves into the two-level game that characterizes the EU and how this may explain Sweden’s approach to rejecting proposals. It concludes that criticism of the use of EU financial resources and concerns about other countries' national responsibilities are the two most prominent justifications for initial rejections. Furthermore, the thesis discusses Sweden’s scepticism toward the institutionalisation of security and defence issues, as well as Sweden’s strategic culture and identity, in order to adress the question of consistency in its pattern of initial objections.

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