Östen Undén

Who was Östen Undén?

Bo Östen Undén, J.D., was a Swedish academic, civil servant and Social Democratic politician and acting Prime Minister of Sweden 6 October 1946 – 11 October 1946 following the death of Per Albin Hansson. In 1917, he was appointed professor and head of the department of civil law at Uppsala University, but he came to divide his career between politics and academia, which prompted his resignation from the position as rector magnificus of that university. He served as the foreign ministry's expert on international law, as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden 1924–1926 and 1945–1962, minister without portfolio 1917–1920 and 1932–1936, the government's chancellor for universities 1937–1951, and he chaired the parliament's committee on foreign relations during World War II.

Östen Undén was much respected, particularly within the Social Democratic Party, but was never uncontroversial. He belonged, together with Ernst Wigforss, clearly to the left-wing faction of the Social Democrats, and has in retrospect been criticized for a much too rosy view of the Soviet Union that remained for all of his time as Foreign Minister, well on to 1962 .