Should The Swedish State Export War Munition? A normative study on whether war munition export contradicts Sweden’s democratic values

Abstract

The following thesis invites the reader for a discussion on Swedish war munition export and in specific the moral justification of the export. Sweden is ranked as one of the countries with highest democracy and is at the same time one of the world’s top exporters of munitions. From a normative perspective, this study takes a look at whether Sweden should export war munition or not and if the export we have today contradict the Swedish democratic values. With the export a tension is created and manipulated between what is right and wrong, what should be and what shouldn't: Should the Swedish state export war munition? There is a division between the two sides and as the topic is sensitive in its nature this paper will test the two most extreme points against each other. To find out whether, and, if so, how the arguments contradict the Swedish democratic principles. With argumentation-analysis as methodology I was able to analyze the relevance, durability and conclusive power of the arguments from each side in comparison to each other. The results showed that the pro-export arguments were drastically weaker in comparison to the contra export arguments due to weakness to support the thesis that the Swedish state should export. Further the pro-arguments lacked in-depth explanations to be able to reject the contra-side. This is because it is more difficult for the Swedish state to morally justify the export as equally imperative as democratic values, fighting for human rights and combating terrorism.