2019 Volume 2019 Issue 196 Pages 196_17-196_32
This article describes Sweden’s diplomatic efforts for neutrality at the beginning of the Cold War with a focus on Sweden’s submitting the draft resolution in the United Nations (U.N.) in December 1951. The diplomatic possibilities and limitations for the “neutral” countries in the U.N. during times of high tension between the West and the East are also discussed.
After the outbreak of the Korean War, the Eastern Bloc adopted a positive attitude to resolving the question of the German unification. Through this stance, they attempted to show the structure of the “positive East” and the “negative West” regarding the German unification and to delay the Western plan for West German rearmament.
To resist this Eastern propaganda, in November 1951, the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (U.K.), and France proposed the Western draft resolution to the U.N. on conducting free elections for the unification of Germany. Because the Soviet Union and other Eastern countries refused to discuss the German issue in the U.N., the aim of the Western countries to project the Eastern Bloc as the obstacle in the unification of Germany would be realized.
In this context, the Swedish foreign minister Östen Undén criticized the Western draft resolution as being unrealistic and submitted the Swedish resolution in December 1951. The Swedish resolution requested the four occupying countries (the U.S., the U.K., France, and the Soviet Union) to cooperate in conducting free elections in the whole of Germany as a prelude to unification.
The Western countries considered Undén’s initiative to have dangerous consequences not only because the Western aim could fail but also because the Swedish resolution could delay their plan for the rearmament of West Germany, which would benefit the Eastern Bloc. This was why the Western countries condemned Undén and requested him and the Swedish government to withdraw the resolution.
Despite the pressure from the West, Undén refused to comply with the request and continued to criticize the Western resolution. Finally, a revised Western resolution, which was proposed by other Western countries and which incorporated some points proposed by Undén, was voted for.
The reason for Undén’s unwavering stand on the Swedish resolution was his desire to show Sweden’s ability to remain diplomatic independently. His ultimate purpose was to show that Sweden could stay neutral in case of war. The Soviet Union was skeptical of Swedish neutrality at the time and it was necessary for Undén to convince the Soviet Union of his country’s ability to stay neutral. This is why Undén took great efforts to project Sweden as a trustworthy neutral country by maintaining diplomatic relations independently of the West, regardless of frictions between Sweden and the Western powers.
