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Why Stay Engaged with a State Deemed Fragile? The Case of Sweden toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Andersson, Magnus LU and Bae, Jinsun LU (2014) In Working Papers in Contemporary Asian Studies
Abstract
Based on the constructivist international relations (IR) approach, the authors study Sweden’s engagement with the DPRK as a unique case to understand motivations for engaging in a so-called fragile state. Besides having its embassy in Pyongyang and serving as a protecting power for the U.S., Sweden has provided capacity building programs for North Korean government officials and scholars. It has also made a consistent commitment to aid and human rights advocacy. In a nutshell, Sweden has been a facilitator between the DPRK and the outside world. Its motivations are mixed and multiple,including the expectation of gains, the convenience of repeating the work and the logic of appropriateness.



This case expands our... (More)
Based on the constructivist international relations (IR) approach, the authors study Sweden’s engagement with the DPRK as a unique case to understand motivations for engaging in a so-called fragile state. Besides having its embassy in Pyongyang and serving as a protecting power for the U.S., Sweden has provided capacity building programs for North Korean government officials and scholars. It has also made a consistent commitment to aid and human rights advocacy. In a nutshell, Sweden has been a facilitator between the DPRK and the outside world. Its motivations are mixed and multiple,including the expectation of gains, the convenience of repeating the work and the logic of appropriateness.



This case expands our understanding of engagement that is often understood to a great degree as a rationalist affair between the engaging and target states. It also affirms the usefulness of constructivist IR approach in accounting for today’s engagement practices involving more stakeholders and less strict cost-benefit calculation. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Sweden, DPRK, engagement, foreign policy, constructivism, fragile state, capacity building, human rights, Pyongyang embassy, protecting power.
in
Working Papers in Contemporary Asian Studies
issue
40
pages
33 pages
publisher
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
ISSN
1652-4128
ISBN
978-91-980900-0-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4d2f402d-5305-42a8-8606-619662a0e874 (old id 4530035)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:55:48
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:38:59
@misc{4d2f402d-5305-42a8-8606-619662a0e874,
  abstract     = {{Based on the constructivist international relations (IR) approach, the authors study Sweden’s engagement with the DPRK as a unique case to understand motivations for engaging in a so-called fragile state. Besides having its embassy in Pyongyang and serving as a protecting power for the U.S., Sweden has provided capacity building programs for North Korean government officials and scholars. It has also made a consistent commitment to aid and human rights advocacy. In a nutshell, Sweden has been a facilitator between the DPRK and the outside world. Its motivations are mixed and multiple,including the expectation of gains, the convenience of repeating the work and the logic of appropriateness.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
This case expands our understanding of engagement that is often understood to a great degree as a rationalist affair between the engaging and target states. It also affirms the usefulness of constructivist IR approach in accounting for today’s engagement practices involving more stakeholders and less strict cost-benefit calculation.}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Magnus and Bae, Jinsun}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-980900-0-0}},
  issn         = {{1652-4128}},
  keywords     = {{Sweden; DPRK; engagement; foreign policy; constructivism; fragile state; capacity building; human rights; Pyongyang embassy; protecting power.}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{40}},
  publisher    = {{Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University}},
  series       = {{Working Papers in Contemporary Asian Studies}},
  title        = {{Why Stay Engaged with a State Deemed Fragile? The Case of Sweden toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3673019/4530037}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}