A non-alignment policy has been central in Swedish security politics since the nineteenth century. After the Cold War Sweden joined EU and integrated with NATO but were still not interested in an alliance membership. Then why is Sweden developing its defense cooperation with Finland which could be seen as an alliance instead of applying for a NATO membership?

The purpose of this study is to explain the increased defense cooperation with the combination of the balance-of-power perspective as well as the political identity perspective. I have analyzed Swedish political documents from 2007-2015 and previous research on Swedish historical experiences in security politics.

My conclusion to why Sweden is furthering its defense cooperation with Finland instead of applying for a NATO membership is the combination of a more threatening and aggressive Russia and the Swedish national identity. The Swedish historical non-alignment still affects the security politics today. There are also factors in both Sweden’s and Finland’s national situation that have propulsive and restraining influences in their defense cooperation.