The purpose of this study is to decide to what extent an event in the world around (external shock) coincide with changes within Swedish security policy. As a tool for analysis the study uses a theoretical model for explanation which originally was designed to explain changes in a states foreign policy. With some delimitation the model is utilized to explain changes in Swedish security policy by study the decision-making process through a bill of defence. It is the opinion of purpose, aims, capacity and proportions with military forcible means together with the view on global security policy actors that reflects what kind of immediate change that coincide with a certain event in the world around. The events that are included in this study are two with the character of real shocks, the collapse of the Berlinwall in 1989 and the terrorist attacks on nine eleven 2001, and two events that do not seem to be shocks, the Swedish membership to the EU in 1995 and the ratification of the Lisbon treaty together with its extended defence cooperation in 2008.
To sum up it is established that it is possible to use the theoretical model in order to ascertain if immediate changes in the Swedish security policy coincide with the above mentioned events. Secondly the study answer the questions if the four events have impact on the Swedish security policy and if so, what kind of impact. The events that seem to have biggest immediate impact are those referring to the EU, in both occasions we see changes on all areas, referring to military forcible means and global security policy actors, by analyse the actual bill of defence. This fact does not exclude that the other events affect Swedish security policy less or more since those events probably have a cumulative effect, which this study does not consider.