(Post-) Neutrality in the New Europe

Abstract

Olof Palme’s policy was highly controversial. He made maximum use of the political room for manoeuvre available to a small neutral state at the height of the second Cold War. In so doing he widened the gap between public foreign policy and the strategic realities of Northern Europe. Swedish society was fundamentally democratic in nature, with less extremism to the left and right than in most European countries. It was a capitalist social and economic success. Yet Sweden’s adherence to Western values could not easily be reconciled with a foreign policy that somewhat impeded a clear distinction between democracy and dictatorship.