2025 Volume 21 Pages 11-19
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, significantly changed the foreign and security policies of Sweden. In May of the same year, Sweden applied to join NATO, and in March 2024, it officially became a NATO member “in both name and reality”.
Throughout the Cold War the constant military threat to Sweden was the Soviet Union. However, there was a question whether Sweden alone could stand up to the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Swedish military had acted on its own initiative, that is, without consulting the government, and had steadily in secret built military cooperation with the West. Consequently, Sweden became a “hidden member” of NATO. Although Russia remains a military threat, Sweden confronts other global threats such as China’s intervention through its sharp power since the 2010s, and Iranian operations using criminal networks that have developed into a social problem in Sweden in recent years.
