Ultima Ratio : Swedish defence and foreign policy debate concerning the possibility of a Nordic Defence Alliance and NATO during 1948-1949

The debate in progress in 2015 in Sweden is very much about whether Swedish neutrality shall be retained or replaced by a NATO membership. In 1948-49 there was a similar debate at the highest level in Sweden, whether the country should join in a Nordic alliance with Norway and Denmark, or whether they would join the western Atlantic Alliance. The study analyses the debate of the topic in parliament by a given school analysis via political actors representing all parliamentary parties. The parliamentary parties at the time, the Social Democrats, the Agrarian Party, the parliamentary Conservatives, the Liberal Party and the Swedish Communist Party. The Schools were divided by 1948 and 1949, and have but a slight difference. In 1948 there was three schools of thought where the first one was pro-Soviet Union and neutrality, one that was pro US West and for Nordic alliance, but against NATO and the last one was against the Soviet Union, the Nordic alliance and for a discussion concerning NATO. The difference in 1949 was that one school of thought came about as clearly argued for NATO. Events like the Berlin blockade and the Prague coup influenced public opinion and thus the Parliament. The debate in parliament was relatively abundant but with clear dividing lines of which the Social Democrats held the majority and chose the Swedish neutrality when the negotiations with Norway, Denmark fell through