Norden och USA - The Nordic countries and the United States; before and after Obama’s victory

 

  • Leading writers from the five Nordic countries give their views of the relationships between their respective countries and the US at www.analysnorden.org.
    Regarding Sweden, the following paragraphs include some of the aspects Margit Silberstein touches upon.
    The government has high expectations from the new president to play a leading role in the environment meeting in Copenhagen in December next year. Barack Obama promised during his election campaign that the US would take an active role in the climate negotiations when the countries of the world meet again to agree on a new Kyoto agreement.
    Swedish export will suffer if the United States turns inward in the financial crisis. The country is Sweden’s second largest trade partner after Germany, and the auto industry crisis will effect Swedish Volvo (Ford) and Saab (General Motors).
    Swedish-American relationships have fluctuated between hope and despair over the years. They were frosty during the Nixon presidency but normalized again in the late 1980's. The two countries share a long history together. Sweden was, e.g., one of the very first countries to recognize the United States after the Declaration of Independence and, of course, the Swedish emigration to America in the late 19th century was substantial. Sweden actively supported the US in the Kosovo crisis and after 9/11 the Swedish prime minister was wholeheartedly behind America. Again, after the invasion of Iraq things have not been working smoothly. On the whole though, Swedish governments, both the current coalition government and the previous social-democratic government, have made real efforts to maintain good relations with the United States.

  • Two publications by a Swedish scholar and writer well acquainted with Sweden and the United States seem germane to the above:
    Gunnar Myrdal's Amerika mitt i Världen, 1943 (during the Second World War)and Amerikas väg, 1963. “Sweden and America, my two spiritual native countries,” says Myrdal.

  • In September www.analysnorden.org discussed Norden and Russia

  • Stig Olsson

  • December 2008