The Myth of Sweden as a peace-power state and its religious motivations

Abstract

Since the non-military dissolution of the political union with Norway in 1905, the myth of Sweden as a peace-power state, often with religious motivations, has been actual, and continuosly re-activated. In his ecumenical-political actions, Archbishop Nathan Soderblom was one of the most outstanding actors. Later, the political martyrdom of Count Folke Bernadotte, Dag Hammarskjold, Raoul Wallenberg, Olof Palme, and Anna Lindh, changed the outlines of the myth into an individualistic one, emphasising the strong Swedish individual, fighting for peace and justice, more than the national concept of Sweden as a peace-power state.