Evolution of Sweden and Finland’s Military Policy in the Arctic and Accession to Nato

The article examines the evolution of Sweden and Finland’s military policy in the Arctic given global geopolitical, economic and climate transformations. The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of external and internal factors’ combined influence that determined the change of Sweden and Finland’s policy. The author highlights the key external factors, such as the restoration of Russia's role in the region, the NATO pressure, and the melting of the ice, which opens up the possibility of using new transportation routes and developing mineral extraction. Internal factors include the indoctrination of population to support alliance membership, defense sector lobbying, and the reorientation of political elites. Having analysed official documents on Arctic policy and sociological surveys, the author identifies the stages of transforming approaches to security in the Arctic. The article identifies the role of “hybrid threat” narratives as a tool to legitimize NATO membership, including the interpretation of the “unidentified submarine” incidents (2014) and cyberattacks on Finnish government institutions (2013-2016). The paper describes influence of the defense industrial complex on political decisions through lobbying for joint procurement and access to NATO markets. The study also focuses on the long-term consequences of militarization in the region, including escalating confrontation and transforming Arctic cooperation formats, and describes current NATO-Finnish-Swedish military cooperation relations. Special attention is paid to the relationship between domestic political processes in Finland and Sweden and the strategic interests of the alliance, which forms a new security architecture in the region. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the true reasons for Finland and Sweden joining NATO. The results of the study may help to predict further militarization of the Arctic, which might lead to the elimination of frozen cooperation formats and increased confrontation.

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