The Swedish Social Democratic party has historically upheld Sweden’s 200 years of peace, its strong international profile in issues such as de-escalation and peacebuilding, and its military non-alignment. During Russia’s invasion of Crimea, leading up to its full invasion of Ukraine, the Social Democratic party begins to question its long held opposition to join NATO. This thesis applies a theoretical perspective on political legitimacy to analyse the Social Democratic party’s position on a Swedish NATO membership, using ideal-types analysis. Official documents and publications, along with speeches and press statements make up the empirical material. Findings suggests that the party’s position can be found to be politically legitimate and politically illegitimate at the same time, depending on perspectives.
2022-05-25