The Swedish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1961–1967 : Political Time Orientation and Worldview
(2025) In Scandinavian Journal of History 50(1). p.77-99- Abstract
The Swedish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND) fought the military’s plans to acquire Swedish nuclear weapons and protested the nuclear arms race, 1961–1967. This article presents SCND’s ideological orientation by focusing on temporalities. SCND saw the Second World War as a decisive event and tried to avert a crisis and a dystopia by manifesting remembrance of past nuclear detonations, and by representing a ‘desperate man’ who needed to act directly against nuclear weapons testing and research. As an opinion-forming force, SCND advocated international negotiations and rejected political initiatives regarding disarmament. Furthermore, SCND refused to take a position between West and East in the Cold War and SCND did not strive for... (More)
The Swedish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND) fought the military’s plans to acquire Swedish nuclear weapons and protested the nuclear arms race, 1961–1967. This article presents SCND’s ideological orientation by focusing on temporalities. SCND saw the Second World War as a decisive event and tried to avert a crisis and a dystopia by manifesting remembrance of past nuclear detonations, and by representing a ‘desperate man’ who needed to act directly against nuclear weapons testing and research. As an opinion-forming force, SCND advocated international negotiations and rejected political initiatives regarding disarmament. Furthermore, SCND refused to take a position between West and East in the Cold War and SCND did not strive for a fundamental change of society, a utopia, which can be explained by SCND’s critique of ideology and from its temporal orientation rooted in the present. Nevertheless, the rise of imperialist-critical internationalism led to internal ideological conflicts, and the Swedish Campaign dissolved when only one of the goals was achieved: when Sweden abandoned the plans for nuclear weapons. Some members insisted on continuing the campaign to fight against not least imperialism, and SCND’s downfall in 1967 can be explained by its challenge to navigate an ideologically multifaceted landscape.
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- author
- Gustafsson, Jenny and Ericsson, Martin LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-01-16
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Campaign for nuclear disarmament, Sweden, temporality
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of History
- volume
- 50
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 77 - 99
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85207267238
- ISSN
- 0346-8755
- DOI
- 10.1080/03468755.2024.2411947
- project
- Kampanjen mot atomvapen 1961-1967: Protestrepertoar och världsbild
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Historical Associations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
- id
- 83883f80-63ff-4249-84a0-40f5098c19ba
- date added to LUP
- 2024-12-18 17:40:35
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:25:44
@article{83883f80-63ff-4249-84a0-40f5098c19ba,
abstract = {{<p>The Swedish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND) fought the military’s plans to acquire Swedish nuclear weapons and protested the nuclear arms race, 1961–1967. This article presents SCND’s ideological orientation by focusing on temporalities. SCND saw the Second World War as a decisive event and tried to avert a crisis and a dystopia by manifesting remembrance of past nuclear detonations, and by representing a ‘desperate man’ who needed to act directly against nuclear weapons testing and research. As an opinion-forming force, SCND advocated international negotiations and rejected political initiatives regarding disarmament. Furthermore, SCND refused to take a position between West and East in the Cold War and SCND did not strive for a fundamental change of society, a utopia, which can be explained by SCND’s critique of ideology and from its temporal orientation rooted in the present. Nevertheless, the rise of imperialist-critical internationalism led to internal ideological conflicts, and the Swedish Campaign dissolved when only one of the goals was achieved: when Sweden abandoned the plans for nuclear weapons. Some members insisted on continuing the campaign to fight against not least imperialism, and SCND’s downfall in 1967 can be explained by its challenge to navigate an ideologically multifaceted landscape.</p>}},
author = {{Gustafsson, Jenny and Ericsson, Martin}},
issn = {{0346-8755}},
keywords = {{Campaign for nuclear disarmament; Sweden; temporality}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{77--99}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of History}},
title = {{The Swedish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1961–1967 : Political Time Orientation and Worldview}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2024.2411947}},
doi = {{10.1080/03468755.2024.2411947}},
volume = {{50}},
year = {{2025}},
}