Notes

Borderlands. Today, Sweden officially became NATO’s 32nd member state. In May 2022, the historian Susan Colbourn examined Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exploring why they’d make this move—and what their membership will mean for them, the organization, and European security.

In Sweden’s case, this change has come despite not just decades but centuries of committed neutrality, lasting through both world wars and the entirety of the Cold War.