Willingness to defend and foreign policy in Sweden and Finland from the early Cold War period to the 2010s

The actions of a state in foreign policy are often linked to the capabilities or forms of strength available to its government, including the organization of defence with civilian support. This connection frequently manifests at the discursive level. In this article, we argue that the discourses on foreign policy and references by political elites to citizens’ willingness to defend their country serve as messages that bolster the state’s foreign and defence policies under various historical conditions. By leveraging discourse, these messages seek to reinforce the perception of defence capability in the context of foreign policy. Our qualitative analysis of Swedish and Finnish political debates and key documents from the early Cold War era through the 2010s demonstrates that the populace’s willingness to defend has consistently been emphasized as a crucial component of a credible military defence, thereby supporting a stance of neutrality or non-alignment in foreign policy. © 2024 The Authors. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Historical Associations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.