Vapnet som splittrar: En WPR-studie om representationen av personminor i Sverige och Finland

Sammanfattning

As Finland withdraws from the Ottawa Treaty during 2026, a legal dissonance emerges within the closely integrated Swedish-Finnish defence cooperation. This study examines how anti-personnel mines are constructed as a problem in Sweden and Finland respectively, following Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Using a WPR analysis (What's the Problem Represented to Be) combined with strategic culture theory, parliamentary and armed forces discourses in both countries are analysed. The analysis shows that the Swedish discourse is pluralistic, encompassing four problem constructions: anti- personnel mines as a humanitarian, legal, environmental and economic problem, as well as the Ottawa Treaty as an obstacle to Swedish-Finnish defence cooperation. The Finnish discourse is, by comparison, uniform: the Ottawa Treaty is simply constructed as a problem of security and freedom of action. In Finland, the military subculture sets the agenda while the political subculture legitimises it, whereas the relationship between subcultures in Sweden is characterised by tension. These differences are explained through the country's distinct strategic cultures, where Sweden is shaped by a normative and peace promoting self image and Finland by operational autonomy and territorial integrity. The study contributes to research on how humanitarian norms are renegotiated in a deteriorating security environment.