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The 21st century has brought on a lot of changes in the security politics in Northern Europe. Some reports have described it as a change from sunshine to storm. In correlation with these changes, there will also be changes in strategy and in culture. Strategy can be explained through ends, means, and methods. While ends are mainly expressed in the arena of security politics, means and methods are generally formulated by the military in its doctrines. A country’s strategic culture can also be interpreted through its doctrines.

This essay studied the described means and methods in military doctrines through realism and liberalism, in order to establish if the expressed means and methods had changed alongside the changing security politics in Northern Europe. Through this analysis, conclusions could also be made concerning the described strategic culture in the doctrines.

The result showed that the described means and methods, as well as the expressed culture had gone through a change and become more influenced by realistic tendencies. This shows that the Swedish Armed Forces has adapted its description of strategy and strategic culture in its doctrines in coherence with the changing politics.