Sweden and Finland are both historically neutral countries. Though both are members of the European Union, they are decidedly not members of NATO But that may soon change. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden have signaled a desire to join the US-lead western military alliance.  On the line with me to explain the significance of Sweden and Finland joining NATO is Ivo Daalder, President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former US Ambassador to NATO. We kick off discussing Sweden and Finland's historic neutrality before having a longer conversation about the process of NATO membership and what impact adding these two countries to the alliance may have both militarily and diplomatically. 

The current neoliberal era has seen a paradigm shift in terms of economic liberalization, such as policies on privatization, deregulation, and globalization. Although neoliberalization promises to lessen the burden on government entities to provide welfare, it has evidently caused a greater economic and political divide, especially in advanced capitalist states. In part 2 of this podcast episode, Cory Blad, Professor and Chair at Department of Sociology, Manhattan College, uses the example of Sweden and Finland to explain how neoliberalization plays a role in mitigating socioeconomic and political hardships—and how they can be overcome. His discussion is an extension of the book chapter “Searching for Saviors: Economic Adversities and the Challenge of Political Legitimacy in the Neoliberal Era,” which is published in the Brill series Critical Global Studies.