Join Minna Ålander, Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Helsinki, for a discussion about Sweden and Finland's recent foreign policy changes and their resulting identity shifts.
Prompted by Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Sweden and Finland have undergone a paradigm shift in their foreign policies as they decided to abandon the doctrine of military non-alignment and join NATO. Policy changes have been accompanied by fundamental shifts in the countries’ identities. This is particularly the case for Sweden, which long perceived itself as a ‘moral superpower’ in both foreign and domestic policy terms. A key transformation brought about by the changes in the security environment has been a reconfiguration of the relationship between Sweden and Finland. The changes in the two countries’ identities may be long-lasting, affecting the way in which Sweden and Finland perceive their positions among the Nordic countries – and the broader Western alliance.
This event is hosted by the National Nordic Museum in partnership with the Department of Scandinavian Studies and the Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle.
