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The purpose of the following thesis is to identify if and how a national Swedish identity could set boundaries for the Swedish national arms export. This is done by examining identity based motives behind proposition 2017/18:23 on a restricted arms export. A more restricted arms export could, according to several referral bodies, come to threaten the physical security of Sweden. Ontological insecurity is a phenomenon which dictates that, when a state experiences a discrepancy between its identity and its actions, a feeling of shame will arise which in turn threatens the states ontological security. According to Brent Steele, a nations ontological security is as, if not more important to the nation as physical security is. With the use of a discourse analysis of Swedish foreign declarations and parliament debates, this study found a severe discrepancy between the Swedish national identity and national actions in the form of arms export. The study found that Swedish identity is clearly positive linked to values like democracy, peace and human rights while the dominant narrative of the Swedish arms export clearly links the national arms export to signifiers like dictatorship, conflict and oppression. The discrepancy between Swedish identity and its arms export will according to the theory of ontological security, demand a change of actions. Therefore, the threatened Swedish ontological security could be a motive behind proposition 2017/18:23 on a restricted arms export.