Svenskt försvarssamarbete-Varför Finland som fördjupad partner?

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to contribute to increased understanding and knowledge acquisition of the development of the Nordic defense cooperation, and in particular the deepening of cooperation between Sweden and Finland in recent years. The consequences after the end of the Cold War meant a time when the existential threats to the Nordic countries were low, following with the unwillingness of politicians to spend money on military. From this situation, Nordic defense cooperation took off. The essay uses two of Graham Allison's explanatory models to find explanations of this development. The initial collaborations were created with a focus on streamlining the production of military forces and facilitating participation in international operations, mainly under UN-mandate. As a result of the threat change, created mainly by Russia's recent actions, focus of co-operation also changed. A co-operation that changed from a low-intensity, exercise and education oriented character to be able to handle an increased national security threat. My analysis shows that the two chosen models together explain why the choice of partner rendered in Finland. Co-operation is the most rational choice in this situation. Furthermore, the Swedish long term security policy is one factor and the popular opinion regarding NATO is another one. This altogether gave the Swedish government no other option than to deepen the defense co-operation with Finland.