Ontological Security and Policy Change : The Case of Sweden

Abstract: This thesis aims to understand how Sweden managed to renounce its long-held military non-alignment policy and identity to join the military alliance NATO in the aftermath of Russia`s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In order to find out how Sweden achieved this policy shift the thesis builds on social constructivism and studies on ontological security that focuses on the security of identities and adopts the case study method. To answer the research question, the ontological security maximization framework -which presents two complementary strategies that agents must achieve to be able to undertake change-making action- is applied to the selected speeches of Magdalena Andersson, Peter Hultqvist, and Ann Linde, the three leading Swedish politicians that were involved in the decision-making process of the policy change. Regarding the first strategy, the strategy of being, eight distinct identity-signifiers that enhance the Swedish self-esteem and ensure biographical continuity have been identified in the Swedish narrative. When it comes to the second strategy, the strategy of doing, the action “joining NATO” is evaluated positively in three different ways and this was done in a way that consolidates the strategy of being. Furthermore, by addressing the obstacles optimistically- most notably the issue with Türkiye- the three politicians have successfully maximised the Swedish ontological security, thus enabling the initiation of this fundamental policy change.