Memory, Discursive Recontextualization and Geopolitical Codes: The Mnemonic Dimension of the Bilateral Security Cooperation between Sweden and Finland

The relevance of bilateral security relations between Sweden and Finland gained particular significance in the context of the Ukrainian crisis. The post 2022 bilateral security relations between Finland and Sweden are understudied. Both countries decided to abandon their traditional status of neutrality and asked to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Literature has discussed how trauma, memory, and historical analogies constitute crucial elements of national identity and influence the construction of national geopolitical codes. This paper explores the relevance of mnemonic elements, discursive recontextualization and the (re)definition of geopolitical codes regarding the strengthening of the bilateral security cooperation between Sweden and Finland. The deepening of bilateral security cooperation between Sweden and Finland is being discursively legitimized through the argumentative recontextualization of both countries’ geopolitical codes. The paper discusses the two following research questions: i. what is the relevance of mnemonic elements in the discursive recontextualization of Sweden and Finland geopolitical codes? ii. how is such discursive recontextualization being employed to legitimize the expansion of the bilateral security cooperation between the two countries? Building from Ruth Wodak’s (2000) concept of discursive recontextualization and the theory of geopolitical codes (Flint, 2012), the paper discusses how Sweden and Finland are legitimating the deepening of their bilateral security cooperation through the discursive recontextualization of their geopolitical codes. The paper argues that Sweden and Finland have discursively recontextualize their collective historical memories and traumas to legitimate the transformation of their geopolitical codes and the strengthening of their bilateral security cooperation. Such discursive recontextualization leads to the emergence of mnemonic dissonant heritages and to processes of mnemonic appropriation with the goal of constructing a common enemy. The paper debates the potential outcomes of Sweden and Finland bilateral security cooperation in the context of the increasing politicization of European foreign and defence policy.