A Historical View on the Nordic “Peace Brand”

Nissen, Ada

doi:10.1017/9781108772129.005

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…As a country setting, Sweden is an interesting case study for the following reasons: It has had a long history of military nonalignment 3 and of being recognised as a 'neutral' country and has not been at war with another state since 1814 -marking one of the longest uninterrupted periods of peace experienced by any state in the world (Bjereld and Möller, 2016). Sweden's international reputation regarding neutrality and military non-alignment, some suggest, has been strategically used as a branding asset by state and non-state actors to set it apart from other peace-promoting countries such as Norway (Nissen, 2021). However, since the mid-1900s, Sweden has also had a significant arms industry supporting its so-called 'total defence' model.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Branding ‘progressive’ security: The case of Sweden

Coetzee¹,

Larsson²,

Berndtsson³

2023

Cooperation and Conflict

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Contemporary research on so-called Nordic branding has provided crucial insights into the social power of states and how various actors use and circulate ‘progressive’ nation brand tropes for political and commercial goals. Hitherto, the literature on Nordic branding has focused on a wide range of substantive issues, among other things, human rights, gender equality, social welfare and foreign aid, but considerably less attention has been paid to the topic of security. The present article adds to a small but established literature on how the security sphere is increasingly entangled with nation branding. In the Nordic region, we argue, the latter is particularly evident in the case of Sweden – one of the world’s largest per-capita arms exporters in the post-Cold War era but also a country known and often revered for its peaceful and progressive image. Focusing on the case of Sweden, the article contributes to knowledge of how defence industry-related actors (both public and private) draw on and frame nation branding tropes to sell and legitimise their products and services to both insiders (domestic constituents) and outsiders (the global security market).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%