TRANSFORMATION OF SECURITY POLICY FOLLOWING NATO MEMBERSHIP Historical institutionalism in Sweden and Finland?

Abstract

Scholars agree on the link between Nato membership and changes in security policy. The history of Swedish-Finnish security policy and their path to Nato application is also well studied. However, how each country's security policy has changed since joining Nato, especially in relation to one another, has not yet been examined. The thesis aimed to explore this. The case is particularly intriguing due to its contemporary relevance, as well as Finland and Sweden being two unique countries in security policy, with a long history of neutrality and non-alignment. According to historical institutionalism, this history was expected to shape the changes. Additionally, sectorisation was employed to organise the analysis. The material analysed to address the aim included two government documents on security policy from each country, and the method used was the qualitative deductive content analysis. The findings reveal several significant changes in Sweden and Finland following Nato membership concerning military security, whereas other aspects of security were less affected. Overall, the Russian threat appears to be a more important factor driving security policy change in Sweden and Finland than Nato membership.