Examining Domestic and International Influences on Sweden’s and Turkey’s Negotiations for Swedish NATO Membership : A qualitative single case study

Abstract: Sweden and Finland historically applied for NATO membership in 2022. While essentially all member states welcomed the application, Turkey’s ratification deterred. After a trilateral memorandum between Sweden, Finland and Turkey was signed, Finland was eventually accepted into the alliance. This qualitative single case study analyses the Swedish-Turkish negotiations, through first and second-hand material, up until the trilateral memorandum on June 28, 2022. This master thesis aims at understanding the factors which affected the negotiations, through Robert D. Putnam’s theoretical framework of two-level games. Results concluded that domestic factors played a clear role in the negotiations, especially for Turkey. It is also clear that international factors, most notably NATO and several influential member states, put pressure on the negotiating parties to reach an agreement.