Logotyp: till Försvarshögskolans hemsida

This study investigates which strategies the Swedish government employs in reaction to radical nationalist propaganda. It uses the analytical framework proposed by Hellman and Wagnsson (2017) on information warfare and their four ideal-type strategies: countering, naturalising, blocking and ignoring. Through these, it analyses official inquiries and proposals made by SOU (Statens offentliga utredningar), strategic documents, and speeches and articles made by government officials, such as the Swedish Prime Minister. It also divides the propaganda into three categories to further nuance and structure the analysis according to which actor the propagandistic narrative revolves around: the minority, the elite and the people, as proposed by FOI (Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut -FOI, 2017).

The result was that the Swedish government responds to radical nationalistic propaganda using all strategies, but primarily ignoring. The strategies promoted in the strategic documents and the official inquiries tend more towards ignoring, differing from the speeches and articles where more confronting strategies are employed.

The Minority-related narratives are confronted more often than other types of narratives, but blocking is also more prevalent. Narratives about the elite are primarily ignored, although all strategies are employed to some extent. Narratives relating to the people were more naturalised, in regards to characteristics of swedes as a group, but more ignored regarding the radical nationalist community, although some efforts might be taken to both stem recruitment, by naturalisation, and block it through laws.

A name change for the strategy of ignoring is proposed due to the misleading notion that no actions are being taken using this strategy. It would be renamed preventing (förebyggande) to better reflect the range of measures taken within the strategy.