Joining NATO : A qualitative case study of Sweden’s autobiographical narrative 

Sammanfattning: In May 2022 the Swedish government took the momentous decision to apply for membership in NATO, putting an end to what had constituted Sweden’s foreign and security policy identity for over half a century. In order to make sense of this historical shift and its entailing implications for Sweden’s identity in the international sphere, I turned to the literature on ontological security and autobiographical narratives. This literature indicated that states need to maintain a stable and continuous identity in order to remain ontologically secure. However, this kind of security can be maintained despite alterations that destabilize the state’s identity through modifications of the state’s autobiographical narrative. According to some scholarly work, policymakers activate parts of the narrative and deactivate others, in order to maintain continuity to the state’s autobiography and in continuation its identity. Thus, through a qualitative analysis of Sweden’s autobiographical narrative, this thesis makes use of and tests this underpinning logic. In line with previous research, the generated insights from the study suggest that Sweden’s autobiographical narrative manifests some continuity despite membership in NATO standing in stark contrast with the state’s identity.