ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses point of departure, and considers one example of the European neutrals: Sweden. It focuses on a specific aspect of the relations between Sweden and the non-aligned Third World, namely how the international economic agenda of the latter influenced the neutrality of Swedish foreign aid. The chapter shows how this was reflected in the changing view of the relationship between trade and aid. This shift can be used to trace the fluctuating interpretations of neutrality, since it highlights how the international capital flows became politicised by the unionisation of the Third World. It came with no Cold War strings attached, and was seemingly even autonomous because of its non-commercial nature from the very system of international trade that the Third World was criticising so effectively. During the early stages of Third World unionisation discussed here and consequently neutrality continued to be referred to when the new foreign policy issues were discussed.
