Swedish Polar Policies from the First International Polar Year to the Present

Abstract

This essay focuses on Sweden’s seemingly official disinterest in polar politics, from the earliest international polar years up to the most recent of 2007–09. While there were, in fact, particular policies connected with each International Polar Year (IPY), in addition to the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–58, it was not always self-evident who actually formulated or promulgated the somewhat fragmented policies for Sweden. Swedish policies were, in general, noninterventionist but cautious. An array of scientific proto-inquiries provided a widely comprehensible argument for a Swedish presence in both the Arctic and the Antarctic from the late nineteenth century and onward. For several reasons, the scientific quest never lost its prime position as the argument for a Swedish presence, later complemented by a frequent and highly visible concern for the global environment. As will be shown, however, over the years there were also other practical concerns, from the strengthening of national manly identity to whaling, the latter remaining a potential but undeveloped Swedish interest until the late 1950s. Sweden’s generally tacit foreign-policy and security concerns concerning the Arctic have existed ever since the late nineteenth century.