Douglas Brommesson

Normative Europeanization: The case of Swedish foreign policy reorientation

In this article, the concept Normative Europeanization is developed from a synthesis of Normative Power Europe (NPE) and Europeanization. It is argued that NPE has focused too narrowly on the external relations of the European Union (EU), while Europeanization has focused on changes in policy structures. The synthesis developed here overcomes these shortcomings by emphasizing normative internal relations within the EU. Normative Europeanization is defined as a top-down process based on the logic of appropriateness, where states with a close relationship to the EU, i.e. candidate and member states, develop a commitment to a European centre and their normative point of departure is changed. It is argued here that a process of normative Europeanization affects candidate countries and new EU members especially where pro-European norms are diffused through different mechanisms. The theoretical argument is illustrated through a case study on Swedish foreign policy reorientation during the 1990s. The empirical analysis is structured around two ideal types: internationalist foreign policy and normatively Europeanized foreign policy. Based on this analysis, it is concluded that Swedish foreign policy has undergone strong normative Europeanization.

What happens when a new government enters office? A comparison of ideological change in British and Swedish foreign policy 1991–2011

This study analyses to what extent a change of government in times of unchanged international structure affects the ideology of foreign policy. The main contribution is to investigate the role of political culture, as reflected through institutional design, as an intervening variable. Effects of changes of government in the United Kingdom in 1997 and 2010 and in Sweden in 1994 and 2006 is studied by analysing speeches in the General Debates of the UN General Assembly. The analysis is based on four ideal types. The results indicate that institutional design is an influencing intervening variable of foreign policy ideology. In the UK, a country dominated by majoritarian institutional design, foreign policy ideology changes more extensively in times of government change than in Sweden, a country dominated by consensual institutional design.

Security through European integration or flexible autonomy: ambivalence in Sweden’s position on the Eastern Partnership?

ABSTRACT This article explores Sweden’s multiple roles in foreign policy in relation to its actions as an EU member state, seeking also to contribute to the understanding of small-state roles and behaviour at the dawn of a new age of uncertainty in Europe. Based on analytical tools derived from role theory within foreign policy analysis, as well as European integration theory, the article presents an analytical framework according to which the outcome in terms of security-seeking roles can be described as either security through integration or security through autonomy. This framework is then employed in an empirical analysis of the Swedish position on the Eastern Partnership. The article concludes that during 2008–2017, Sweden has balanced its strategies of both EU integration and autonomy from the EU in pursuit of security cooperation on a broad front.

Individualisation and destabilisation of the international order. The case of the responsibility to protect

We argue that the norm ‘responsibility to protect’, which was adopted at the 2005 UN World Summit, implies a radicalisation of the ongoing individualisation of international law, since it replaces the states with individuals as right-holders. We discuss this radical individualisation in the light of the English School and argue that the principle implies a destabilisation of international order based on states to a world order based on individuals. By examining the report The responsibility to protect, we first test whether this radical individualisation is recognised. We conclude that even though the report semantically favours the responsibility to protect, it still does not recognise the individual as right-holder and cannot therefore be seen as an example of a radical individualisation. Secondly, we argue that an interaction between sociological theory of individualisation and the English School would be mutually advantageous. The English School can gain explanatory potential and sociological theory can gain conceptual clarity.

Teaching university teachers to become better teachers: the effects of pedagogical training courses at six Swedish universities

ABSTRACT Do pedagogical training courses for university teachers have desirable effects on the participants? We set out to answer this question by following a panel of 183 university teachers from Sweden’s six largest universities, who participated in pedagogical training courses. Our study reveals that the participants’ self-reported confidence in their role as teachers increased slightly, and their self-assessed pedagogical skills increased notably after they had finished their courses. Even though the courses were rather short, we could also observe some changes in fundamental approaches to teaching in some of the subgroups of respondents, both toward more student-centeredness and, perplexingly, toward more teacher-centeredness. Additionally, most respondents (7 out of 10) found the courses useful or very useful. Course satisfaction was most notable among participants with less than three years of teaching experience. Considering the fact that we find the positive effects of pedagogical training courses to be present mainly in the group of participants with less than three years of teaching experience, we discuss whether a policy of making these courses mandatory for all university teachers implies an overestimation of their impact.

‘Nordicness’ in Swedish foreign policy – from mid power internationalism to small state balancing?

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on Nordicness, i.e. the perception and recognition of a Nordic role in Swedish foreign policy. Based on a framework about security cultures, it identifies and analyses Nordicness – defined in terms of role perceptions – in Swedish foreign and security policy. The analysis identifies three roles: internationalist leader during the period of active foreign policy in the latter part of the Cold War, Europeanized follower during the height of reorientation towards the EU and today’s Nordic balancer. The analysis reveals how Nordicness recently began re-appearing in a security environment characterized by increasing levels of tension. Compared to the Cold War period, shared Nordic norms and identity are less apparent today. Instead, the material security environment has become increasingly important. Recent increases in Nordicness in Swedish foreign policy have taken place in the context of a tenser security situation and have been associated with national security rather than a shared mission of internationalism. The article concludes that, in addition to internationalism, Nordicness has become a source of considerably more materialistic concerns.

Introduction to special section: from Nordic exceptionalism to a third order priority – variations of “Nordicness” in foreign and security policy

ABSTRACT This introduction presents the rationale for studying Nordicness in Nordic foreign and security policy with an overview of the renaissance of the Nordic dimension in research on Nordic foreign policy. The introduction also includes an analytical framework on Nordic security culture, developed from Jepperson, Wendt and Katzenstein [1996. Norms, Identity, and Culture in National Security. In P. J. Katzenstein (Ed.), The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (pp. 33–75). New York: Columbia University Press.]. This framework is used throughout the special section.

Mixed Logics at Play in Libya

The second qualitative empirical chapter contains a case study where the foci is directed toward the different narratives regarding the discussions on intervention/nonintervention in Libya. This case study focuses particularly on the narratives concerning UNSC resolution 1973 (17 March 2011) regarding Libya. Here the decision went in a more active direction compared to the decision on Cote d’Ivoire, including a large-scale military intervention.

The Scope Conditions of Mediatized Foreign Policy

The literature on mediatization is reviewed in order to specify the argument that part of this literature is too general in its claims about the effects of mediatization. Then the chapter turns to literature on foreign policy roles that equip the analysis with the tools needed to theorize about how and to what extent foreign policy roles can be expected to adopt media logic. Such an elaborated discussion of when foreign policy roles may or may not be expected to adjust to mediatization and adopt media logic could help us refine the mediatization concept, which has so far been used in too general terms. Three scope conditions under which decision-makers are more or less likely to change their foreign policy roles or develop new ones are identified: uncertainty, identity and resonance.

Mediatization in the United Nations General Assembly

The fourth chapter is devoted to an empirical examination of the scope conditions on a more general level using quantitative content analysis across time and cases. Using a comparative approach, the chapter explores how and to what extent foreign policy roles adopt media logic. To expand on the question on the scope conditions of mediatization, approximately 20 years of speeches in the UNGA, from the early 1990s to 2011, are studied. The results in this chapter indicate that mediatization resulting in the adoption of media logic in the political rhetoric does not occur consistently. Instead, there is clear evidence supporting the likelihood of mediatization and the adoption of media logic under certain scope conditions.