Logotyp: till Försvarshögskolans hemsida

The military concept of asymmetric warfare has become both popular and ambiguous in military scientific discourse. Even though the debate amongst scholars has been focused on what kinds of power may cause a conflict to become asymmetric, the concept is also often used to describe unconventional war against former colonial nations.

The purpose of this study is to compare how asymmetric warfare has been described by the Swedish Armed Forces, in military theory literature and the article which founded the concept. By concept analysis, asymmetric warfare is analysed through John Gerrings metatheory.

The result shows that the concept is indeed ambiguous and broad in its meaning. The scientific literature describes the concept as debated and imprecise; the Swedish Armed Forces describe asymmetry in warfare as inequality of motives between two actors. This study contributes to the military discourse by highlighting the concept of asymmetric warfare as uncertain in its meaning. It also explains what approach the Swedish Armed Forces takes to the concept.