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Civilian control over military organizations is a central aspect of democratic states, but is complicated by an inherent pursuit of freedom and autonomy among military organizations. The relationship between civilian government and the military organization is also affected by external factors, such as, military threats to the state in the form of war or threat of war. The effects of military threats on civil-military relations has, primarily, been demonstrated in states at war or undergoing democratization, and raises the question as to how changes in threats affect the civil-military relations of a democratic state in peace as well as how these changes can be investigated. 

This study aims to investigate, from a structural as well as actor perspective, how changes in external threats to Sweden as a well-established democracy at peace affect its civil-military relations. The study combines two theories of civil-military relations to analyse Swedish civil-military relations. By combining an analysis of government policy documents with narrative analysis of media reporting, the narrative of Swedish civil-military relations is compared with the state's perception of its external military threats. From the results of the study it is concluded that lower degrees of threat entail a narrative of disagreement, while increased threats lead to a narrative of increased conformity. Furthermore, narrative analysis of media reporting appears to be an important complement to other methods for the study of civil-military relations.