A Comparative Analysis of Sweden’s Humanitarian Aid between the 1970s and today : A Case Study of Ethiopia

Sammanfattning: Ethiopia was one of the first two countries that Sweden gave humanitarian aid to. In this thesis, Ethiopia is used as a case study to understand how the strategy of Sweden’s humanitarian aid has changed over the past fifty-years. How has Sweden’s humanitarian aid changed over the last 50 years? What factors explain these changes? This is a comparative thesis that uses semi-structured interviews. Sweden’s former minister of Foreign Affairs, Hans Blix (1978-1979), Sweden’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia (2017-2020) Torbjörn Pettersson, Michael Ståhl, Counselor of Development Cooperation at Sida in Ethiopia (1994-1996), and Gustav Lindskog, current Program Manager of Humanitarian Aid at Sida have been interviewed.  This thesis has found that the focus of Sweden’s humanitarian aid to Ethiopia has transitioned from the 1800s-religious-based agenda to the 1970s-socialist-based agenda, and now to a more contemporary liberalist agenda, where democracy, human rights and climate change have become more important. This shift can be attributed to the change in the global order.