Masters of war : Sweden’s dual role as a humanitarian superpower and arms exporter

Sammanfattning: Context/Purpose/Material: Sweden, portrayed as a humanitarian superpower, has been widely criticised for the export of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, a state on the other side of the spectrum, as a human rights-violating authoritarian regime. Sweden is still continuing the export to Saudi Arabia, despite Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations both within and outside the country. The purpose of this thesis is to study, by analysing regulation and policy documents, whether Sweden is acting as a primary agent of justice, and by analysing Saab’s Code of Conduct, whether it is acting a as a secondary agent of justice, as is described in the theory I have framed. Theory/Method: My theoretical framework is framed from a few substantive chapters in the “Global responsibilities” book, edited by Andrew Kuper. The framed theory establishes the state as the primary agent of justice, responsible for promoting and defending cosmopolitan principles, and corporations as secondary agents of justice, with the possibility to do more for justice than the local legislation demands. Furthermore, I framed, and subsequently utilised, a stakeholder analysis in order to identify and map the key stakeholders and study their interests and how directives, guidelines, and the trade affects them respectively, and what the key stakeholders should do in order to endorse cosmopolitan principles. Conclusion: I come to the conclusion that the Swedish government and Saab do not act as agents of justice, despite having the capability and officially promoting cosmopolitan principles.