Soft Power and Neutrality: Polish Swedish Relations and East-West Dialogue in the Baltic, 1956–1974

Despite solid academic knowledge production on Cold War détente, soft power in the Baltic Sea region, and the role of Swedish neutrality in facilitating international cooperation beyond the East-West divide, Polish Swedish bilateral relations have not been systematically analyzed as an arena of cross-bloc interaction until support to Solidarity movement in the 1980s. This research project addresses this gap by examining relations between Sweden and Poland during the early phase of European détente (1956–1974).

The project revises prevailing understandings of soft power by conceptualizing it as a historically grounded and strategically dynamic, originating in the Eastern bloc and directed towards Sweden, which was perceived as an important partner in cross-bloc cooperation. In this regard, it approaches Swedish neutrality as a practical and flexible mode of international political activity that facilitated engagement across ideological boundaries. Through an analysis of cultural and diplomatic relations between the two countries against the backdrop of great-power tensions in the 1950s–1970s, the study reassesses Polish Swedish relations within the broader context of East-West dialogue in the Baltic Sea region, an important yet understudied arena of Cold War interaction. By foregrounding Polish actors’ strategies of exchange and perceptions of diplomatic and cultural contacts, the project challenges dominant West-centric narratives of neutrality, détente, and soft power. In doing so, it reconceptualizes soft power as a reciprocal and, crucially, East-originating practice in Cold War Europe and contributes to ongoing efforts to decenter Cold War historiography from great-power perspectives and to integrate Soviet satellite states and neutral actors into the history of European international relations of the Cold War.