MEMBER STATE FOREIGN POLICY VERSUS EU FOREIGN POLICY: THE CASE

OF SWEDISH FOREIGN POLICY ON UKRAINE

ABSTRACT

This dissertation will analyse the interplay between the EU and its member states in the making
and implementation of EU foreign policy through analyzing the case of Swedish foreign policy
on Ukraine. Based on a social constructivist approach, the study will argue that the interaction
between the EU and Sweden is essential to the construction and reconstruction of their identities,
which in turn is reflected in the shape of their foreign policies toward Ukraine. Thus, the unique
identity of each member state influences the EU’s identity and foreign policy, and vice versa.
Their foreign policy towards Ukraine reveals how socialization among Sweden and the EU
affects their foreign policy formation processes. Swedish foreign policy is dictated by Swedish
Moral Superpower stance, which was redefined by Sweden’s entrance to the EU; along with
Sweden’s geopolitical location. Swedish Moral Superpower narrative is an important factor
which renders Ukraine’s rapprochement with the EU a key issue on Sweden’s foreign policy
agenda. This study considers how Sweden has succeeded in uploading its foreign policy
objectives to the united EU’s foreign policy agenda. Sweden’s influence on EU foreign policy
remains important by various endogenous and exogenous factors. Thus, this thesis argues that
the EU’s foreign policy on Ukraine is highly affected by the interaction between Sweden and the
EU, with Sweden playing a significant role and that Sweden’s political principles are central to
Swedish foreign policy and has a crucial impact on EU foreign policy on Ukraine.

Keywords: Swedish foreign policy, EU foreign policy, foreign policy formation process,
Sweden, social constructivism, Ukraine.

INTRODUCTION

This study will analyse the European foreign policy formation process, in particular examining
the crucial role that identities and socialization between EU actors play in relation to their
behaviour on the international stage. In order to investigate the factors that have an impact on the
European foreign policy formation process, I will employ a holistic approach. Moreover, I will
scrutinize both external and domestic features. Given that membership of a sui generis entity
such as the EU has an inevitable impact on the identity of the member states, and hence on their
foreign policy too, this study will examine the relationship between the EU and one of its
member states; namely, Sweden. It will analyse the extent to which the EU and Sweden
influence each other in the area of foreign policy on Ukraine.
This study will focuses on Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine as its test case, analysing how
Swedish foreign policy in this area has influenced EU foreign policy and vice versa. Sweden
presents a particularly interesting case study, since the country has undergone a significant moral
transformation that has contributed to the reconstruction of Swedish national identity. The study
assumes that to understand Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine and its interplay with EU foreign
policy, it is vital to have insight into the unique Swedish identity constructed by its history,
geopolitical location and culture.

The analysis of the Swedish foreign policy formation process in this thesis draws on the work of
prominent social constructivist scholars, such as Guzzini, Wendt, Checkel, Katzenstein, and
Onuf. According to social constructivism, states do not exist in a vacuum; rather, they are highly
affected by other actors and the environment around them. Actors’ identities are socially
constructed through ongoing relations with others, and the identities of states are reflected in
their foreign policies. Thus to understand the process of foreign policy formation, it is crucial to
study the roots; namely, to elaborate on how foreign policy is made and what determines its path.
Because decision-making in foreign policy has a “multifactorial and multilevel” character
(Hudson 2007:6), it is essential to take into consideration all factors that influence the entire
process. This study aims to expose the importance of identities, intersubjective knowledge
construction and reconstruction in shaping EU foreign policy in the case of Swedish foreign
policy on Ukraine. Thus, the analysis of Swedish foreign policy, here, is based on its historical
experience, geopolitical location, environment and relations with other actors.

The Argument of the Thesis

The interaction between the EU and its members is essential to their identities. In turn, their
identities are reflected in the shape of their foreign policy. At the same time, just as the EU’s
identity and foreign policy influence the foreign policy and identity of each member state, each
member state’s unique identity and foreign policy also influence the EU’s identity and its foreign
policy. These interactions and influences are revealed in Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine; in
short, Sweden and the EU influence each other. The EU’s foreign policy is also a result of the
continuous interaction with member states’ foreign policies; hence, Sweden affects the shape of
EU foreign policy on Ukraine. However, Sweden’s impact on the EU foreign policy meets with
some troubles such as the stance of other member states, the domestic situation in Ukraine, the
lack of continuity in the EU foreign policy, as well as Russia’s impact as an external factor.
Thus, EU foreign policy on Ukraine is shaped through the interaction between actors included in
the process, with Sweden playing a crucial role. Swedish foreign policy is dictated by Swedish
national political course, which, together with Sweden’s geopolitical location, means that
Ukraine’s rapprochement with the EU is a key issue on the Swedish foreign affairs agenda.
Therefore, this study, by considering the importance of identities and the interactions between
actors, will analyse the processes and determinants that influence Swedish and EU foreign policy
formation. The major statement of this thesis will argue that Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine
is shaped by Swedish political identity, reflecting elements of Swedish history and the its
experiences that in turn influence EU foreign policy towards Sweden. Furthermore, any change
in Swedish politics redefines its behaviour on the world stage and affect the interplay between
Swedish foreign policy and the EU foreign policy towards Ukraine.

Research Questions of the Thesis

The major research question of the thesis is how do Swedish identity and its foreign policy
affect the EU’s foreign policy on Ukraine. Six supporting research questions are asked to support
the argument of this thesis. These questions help prepare the ground for the analysis of the
context and the nature of the interplay between Swedish and EU foreign policies and their policy
on Ukraine. These questions are:

1. What are the main factors shaping EU foreign policy and Swedish foreign policy towards
Ukraine?

2. To what extent does Sweden influence EU foreign policy-making and vice-versa?

3. To what extent does the EU have an impact on Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine?

4. What factors limit or empower Sweden’s endeavours to shape EU foreign policy on Ukraine?

5. How does Swedish national, historical and political identity feed into the formation of EU
foreign policy on Ukraine?

6. In what way has social learning influenced the character of Sweden’s and the EU’s approach
towards the Ukrainian issue?

Structure of the Thesis

I will divide this thesis into four sections. The Introduction (the present chapter) lists the research
questions and presents the argument that will be presented in the analysis. It will explain the
method that I employ to examine the thesis topic; in the next section I will outline the structure
of the thesis.
The first chapter will focus on the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study. It will
present a brief overview of the social constructivist approach and its basic assumptions, and it
discusses crucial figures in the field, such as Onuf, Wendt, Guzzini, Checkel, and Katzenstein.
This part will enable to better understand why this particular approach is necessary to employ
and disentangle the puzzle of this thesis.

The second chapter will discuss EU foreign policy. It will explain the unique character of the
EU’s identity and how this is reflected in its foreign policy. The first part will give a brief
overview of EU foreign policy; the next part examines in a deeper way and the final part of the
chapter will analyse the Eastern dimension of the EU which is particularly relevant in the context
of foreign policy in relation to Ukraine.

The third chapter will consider Swedish foreign policy. It will begin by discussing the historical
context of the Swedish foreign policy formation process, before turning to Swedish Moral
Superpower policy. After this, it will analyse Sweden’s entrance into NATO, which was a
significant breakthrough for Swedish identity transformation. The second part of this chapter will
focus on Sweden’s path to Europe, with an examination of Sweden’s cooperation in groups,
particularly its role in Europe. The final part of this chapter will consider Sweden’s place in the
EU and its role in establishing the new projects, and it briefly will discusses the Swedish vision
within the EU.

The fourth chapter will present the case study. The interplay between Swedish foreign policy and
EU foreign policy towards Ukraine is analysed. The first part will give a brief overview of the
situation in Ukraine, after which Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine is discussed. It will examine
how Sweden-Ukraine relations have developed and been shaped, which is important for
understanding the socialization process between the two sides and its impact on Swedish foreign
policy formation. Ukraine’s place in Sweden’s strategic culture is discussed and the historical
experiences that affect Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine are examined. The second part of the
final chapter will look at EU foreign policy on Ukraine. It considers Ukraine’s place in the
European Neighbourhood Policy and in the Eastern Partnership, explains the Association
Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, discusses the EU’s role in the
Ukrainian crisis and analyses the lack of membership prospects for Ukraine. The final part of the
chapter will investigate Swedish influence on the EU’s foreign policy towards Ukraine. It will
discuss the purposes behind Sweden’s endeavours to bring Ukraine into the EU foreign policy
agenda, and it looks at the strengths and limitations of Sweden’s position in relation to the
Ukrainian case. In addition, the exogenous factors limiting Sweden’s influence on EU foreign
policy towards Ukraine are analysed, with consideration of Ukraine’s domestic situation, the
Russian factor and divergences among member states of the EU. The analysis in this part will
reinforce by interviews conducted by the author.

The final part of this thesis will present some conclusions. It will interpret the findings of the
study and offers recommendations for future research. These findings can be summarized as
follows: First, Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine is highly shaped by Sweden’s political,
historical, cultural and national identity. Second, after Sweden’s accession to the NATO, Sweden
may adopt the role of a bridge that facilitates the EU’s and NATO relations with Ukraine.
Sweden will become a pivotal element in the interaction and socialization between the EU,
NATO and Ukraine, so the constant exchange of knowledge between the EU, NATO and
Sweden will affect the EU’s and NATO perception of Ukraine. Third, the shape of EU foreign
policy on Ukraine is the result of numerous factors such as the identity of the states included the
process, their historical experiences and geopolitical location. Moreover, some of Sweden’s
interests originating from the county’s identity are not in line with the interest of other EU
member states and this negatively affects the formation of a coherent EU foreign policy on
Ukraine. Thus, EU foreign policy on Ukraine reflects the interplay among the EU, Sweden and
other actors included in the process.

Methodology and Data Collection

The thesis has an exploratory character and seeks to explain how and why Swedish and EU
foreign policies on Ukraine have been formed. The social constructivist approach was selected in
order to analyse the importance of the identities of the actors and the influence of the
socialization process on the foreign policy formation process. A qualitative research approach
was chosen as the methodology for this thesis, in view of the fact that “the term qualitative
evokes a narrative or analytical richness, a method that brings out more detail and nuance from a
case than can be found by reducing it to quantitative measures (Barkin 2008:211). Qualitative
methodological toolkits enable a topic to be comprehended and explored in an adequate manner,
and they reinforce the holistic examination of the inquiry. In this study, the qualitative research
method is applied to reflect social constructivism’s post-positivist ontology and positivist
epistemology. The thesis will involve the application of social constructivism to the specific case
of Swedish foreign policy and its impact on European foreign policy on Ukraine. Process tracing
is specifically applied to reflect the positivist epistemology of the thesis, mainly tracing the
causal relationship in the formation of Swedish and European foreign policies and also in
analysing the impact of Swedish foreign policy on European foreign policy. Swedish political
identity formation processes, both Swedish and EU foreign policy-making processes, as well as
the processes of formation of their policies on Ukraine are thus analysed in depth.

Process tracing has often been applied in rationalist and social constructivist approaches to the
study of the European Union and European foreign policy as can be seen in Schimmelfennig
(2001). Bennett and Checkel (2015) define process tracing as an effective method in revealing
the causal relationship between an independent variable and dependent variable. In their view,
although “process tracing figures prominently in the work of conventional constructivists”, it
becomes harder to distinguish between dependent and independent variables in interpretivist
approaches as their main concern is mutual constitution (co-constitution) between agents and
structures and “it is impossible to separate events into discrete moves in which either the agent or
the structure is primarily driving the process” (Bennett and Checkel 2015: 15). Nevertheless,
“break[ing] down events” (ibid.) and looking at critical junctures in the formation of identities
and foreign policies might still be possible and helps understand the mutually constitutive
relationship between them. This resonates with what Bennett and Checkel (ibid.) refer to as a
“bracketed strategy” in applying process tracing in social constructivist analyses. Thus, this
thesis avoids using the terms “dependent variable” and “independent variable” as employed in
the strict sense of process tracing, but rather adopts an interpretivist approach that uses a
“bracketed strategy” in applying process tracing.

The argument of the thesis is also supported by an analysis of the discourses used in Swedish and
EU identity and foreign policy formation processes, but this does not mean the employment of a
full-fledged discourse analysis in the thesis. Rather, official discourses (as used in the official
documents and speeches of EU/Swedish leaders and officials referred to above) are given in
excerpts and scrutinized to show the mutually constitutive nature of identity and foreign policy;
reflecting the post-positivist ontology on which this thesis is built.

I will collect, evaluate and analyse both primary and secondary sources for this study. Official
documents (EU treaties and agreements, the official documents of EU bodies such as the
European Commission, the European Council, the Council of Ministers, the European
Parliament, the speeches of EU officials and Swedish officials, prime ministers, and ministers as
well as official documents of Sweden, and those of international organizations such as NATO,
and declarations regarding multilateral arrangements) from these various resources will directly
use as references in this thesis. The secondary sources will include books, journal articles, think
tank reports, working papers, surveys, and, archives of news websites and newspapers. Ukrainian
and Russian language sources have widened the scope of the study and enabled consideration of
documents and publications that are not accessible to researchers without the knowledge of
Slavic languages.

This study will reinforce by semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted by the author with
politicians, experts and authorities directly related to the subject and who have a wide knowledge
of and expertise on Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine. The number of interviewees will depend
on situation due to the highly sensitive nature of the current political climate in Ukraine. That is
why; collected information from the interviews will be helpful as supporting material. Interviews
will undertake with a high-ranking former diplomats who served for the ministry of foreign
affairs; with a politician and economist directly related to EU-Ukraine and Sweden-Ukraine
relations and familiar with the formation of Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine; and with
analysts of Sweden-Ukraine relations. Face-to-face interviews are also useful in this process.
Diplomats, politicians, economists and experts may remain anonymous in this thesis, but
supervisor and the PhD Thesis Follow-up Committee will know their names and positions during
the writing of the thesis. The interviewees will share their experiences and perspectives on
Swedish foreign policy formation on Ukraine. This “first-hand” information will directly obtain
from individuals who had been involved in and witnessed the path of events significantly
bolsters the knowledge and insights gained from other sources.

Contribution of the Thesis

This thesis will seek to narrow the gap in the existing literature and build a bridge between the
social constructivist approach and the foreign policy formation process. Most studies adopt an
Europeanization approach to explain the interplay between the foreign policies of the EU and the
member states (see, e.g.: Wong, 2005; Müller and Alecu de Flers). The major contribution of this
thesis to the literature will that it analyses the interplay of foreign policies of Sweden and the EU
on Ukraine taking into consideration their identities, adopting a social constructivist international
relations approach rather than a limited European Studies/Europeanization approach. Thus this
thesis will offer a broader view on the relation between the actors’ identities and their foreign
policies; going beyond analyses based on Europeanization in the realm of foreign policy. It will
depict the dynamics of the identity transformation that in turn shapes their foreign policies
toward Ukraine. Thus, this study will attempt to clarify the fact that in order to understand the
Swedish foreign policy on Ukraine range of factors such as identity and culture should be taken
into consideration. Therefore this thesis not merely focuses on the material aspect of the creation
of Swedish foreign policy preferences but also investigates cultural factors, historical legacies
and narratives employed in the foreign policy formation process. As such, this thesis will explore
the extent to which the interaction between actors and their unique characteristics shape their
foreign policies. On the other hand, it should be underlined that this thesis also will use similar
analytical tools to Europeanization research only when and where necessary so that it can
explain the downloading, uploading and cross loading processes that took place between Sweden
and the EU in formulating and shaping their foreign policies and demonstrating their interplay in
this regard.

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