Logotyp: till Försvarshögskolans hemsida

SAMMANFATTNING:

Denna studie undersöker faktorer som formar implementeringen av NATO-doktriner för militär strategisk kommunikation (StratCom) under Sveriges pågående integration i Alliansen. Med hjälp av en kvalitativ och explorativ ansats baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer tillämpar studien tematisk analys informerad av organisationsteori. Analysen identifierar tre strukturella faktorer - samordning, doktrin och organisationsdesign - och tre HR-relaterade och symboliska faktorer - kompetensförsörjning, kompetensutveckling och organisationskultur - som gemensamt påverkar hur StratCom implementeras av Försvarsmakten. Resultaten avslöjar spänningar relaterade till ledarskap, auktoritet, mandat, professionell kompetens och militär kultur. I synnerhet visar studien att doktrinär anpassning till NATO begränsas mindre av formell doktrin och mer av organisatoriska maktstrukturer och professionell identitet. I slutändan framstår kompetens och militär kultur som de viktigaste begränsande faktorerna för Sveriges förmåga att operationalisera NATOs doktriner inom StratCom.

Denna studie syftar till att analysera om det finns skillnader i personalens uppfattning av förbandschefens indirekta ledarskap mellan förband1 med lägre respektive högre andel förtida avgångar av värnpliktiga. Studien utgår från Larsson m.fl. modell för indirekt ledarskap och genomförs som en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie baserad på data från Försvarsmaktens medarbetarundersökning (FM Vind 2024) samt statistik över förtida avgångar från Plikt- och prövningsverket. Totalt ingår 597 anställda vid nio värnpliktsutbildande förband. Förbanden delades in i två grupper utifrån andel förtida avgångar och jämfördes med avseende på fem indikatorer för indirekt ledarskap. Gruppskillnader analyserades med Welch t-test. Resultatet visar statistiskt signifikanta skillnader mellan grupperna på samtliga indikatorer. Förband med lägre andel förtida avgångar uppvisar genomgående högre värden avseende upplevt engagemang, tydlighet i linjen, säkerhetsförutsättningar, informationsspridning samt helhetsförtroende för förbandsledningen. Resultaten indikerar att förbandschefens indirekta ledarskap kan vara en relevant organisatorisk faktor i relation till förtida avgångar av värnpliktiga. Studien möjliggör dock inte slutsatser om kausala samband, utan resultaten bör förstås som indikationer på samvariation. Studien bidrar med ett kvantitativt perspektiv på indirekt ledarskap i en militär kontext och belyser förtida avgångar som ett organisatoriskt fenomen där högre chefers ledarskap kan utgöra en betydelsefull faktor.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur det formella mentorskapet i armén utövas för nyanställda officerare, vilka effekter det uppfattas bidra till och vilka utvecklingsmöjligheter som kan identifieras. Studien genomfördes som en kvalitativ intervjustudie med abduktiv ansats där 11 semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes vid tre arméförband. Respondenterna bestod av HR-chefer, mentorprogramsansvariga, mentorer och adepter. Empirin analyserades med tematisk analys och en anpassning av Wanberg m.fl. (2003) konceptuella ramverk. Resultatet visar att mentorskapet varierar beroende på lokala förutsättningar och upplevs sakna styrning över organisationsenhetsnivån. Detta belyser behovet av tydligare strukturer och organisatoriskt stöd för att bättre stödja den långsiktiga personalförsörjningen. 

Denna studie syftar till att skapa förståelse för hur första linjens chefer i svenska stridsflygdivisioner upplever att organisatoriska förutsättningar påverkar deras möjligheter att utöva ledarskap under förberedelser inför och genomförande av en Nato-relaterad internationell operation. Studien har genomförts som en kvalitativ semi-strukturerad intervjustudie på fem första linjens chefer från svenska stridsflygdivisioner. Det empiriska materialet analyserades med tematisk analys. Resultatet visar tre övergripande teman: Ledarskapets organisatoriska handlingsutrymme, Organisatoriska friktioner samt Organisatorisk anpassning och omformning. Centrala möjliggörande villkor är tydlighet, tillitsbaserad delegering, en stark professionell kultur samt stöd och mandat från närmaste chef. Samtidigt framträder betydande begränsningar kopplade till resurs–uppgiftsobalans, korta och instabila planeringsförutsättningar, parallella strukturer samt avtal och processer som inte är anpassade till Nato-kontexten. Studien visar att chefers handlingsutrymme i hög grad formas av organisatoriska processer och strukturer, vilka sätter ramarna för individuella ledarbeteenden. En viktig slutsats är att den pågående omställningen mot ökat internationellt åtagande riskerar att förstärka en situation av hög arbetsbelastning och destruktiv tillväxt, samtidigt som den starka organisationskulturen fungerar som en nödvändig men otillräcklig motvikt till dessa utmaningar.

Det här är en kritiskt granskande studie av hur och varför strukturella åtgärder framställs som nödvändiga i den svenska Försvarsmaktens anpassning till en förändrad omvärld. Med hjälp av Carol Bacchis ramverk What’s the Problem Represented to be genomförs en diskursiv analys av Försvarsmaktens beslut om omorganisation från 2025. Analysen visar att beslutet konstruerar organisatoriska problem som utgår från organisationens formella strukturer (organisationsträdet), vilket reproducerar en långvarig styrningslogik där struktur framstår som det primära medlet för att hantera osäkerhet och uppnå militär effektivitet. Därigenom görs även lösningarna huvudsakligen strukturella medan alternativa problemformuleringar och handlingsvägar förblir tystade. Studien identifierar centrala antaganden och tystnader som möjliggör denna problemrepresentation, bland annat föreställningar om styrbarhet, tydlighet och rådighet. Genom att synliggöra dessa diskursiva förutsättningar bidrar studien till professionell reflektion genom att öppna upp för en kritisk prövning av hur organisatoriska problem kan förstås och legitimeras inom Försvarsmakten.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka processer och faktorer arméofficerare med chefserfarenhet upplever påverkar hur ledarutveckling sker och prioriteras inom Försvarsmakten, samt att bidra med fördjupad kunskap om hur ledar- och ledarskapsutveckling realiseras i praktiken. Studien genomfördes med en induktiv ansats och baserades på semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fem arméofficerare. Det empiriska materialet analyserades genom tematisk analys. Resultaten visar att ledarutveckling i hög grad formas genom erfarenhetsbaserade och individnära processer, medan de organisatoriska mekanismer som skulle kunna strukturera, integrera och förstärka dessa erfarenheter framstår som svagt koordinerade. Tre övergripande teman identifierades: egen utveckling till och som ledare, organisatoriska villkor och utmaningar samt chefens egen inställning och strategier. Analysen indikerar ett glapp mellan Försvarsmaktens uttalade ledarideal och hur ledar- och ledarskapsutveckling genomförs i praktiken. Utvecklingen av ledarskap som kollektiv och organisatorisk förmåga framstår i stor utsträckning som beroende av enskilda chefers initiativ snarare än av institutionellt förankrade strukturer. Studien bidrar genom att tydliggöra samspelet mellan möjliggörande och begränsande faktorer samt de processer som binder samman dessa i ett flernivåperspektiv, och pekar på behovet av mer integrerade och strategiskt samordnade utvecklingsmekanismer för en långsiktigt hållbar ledarskapsutveckling inom Försvarsmakten

Studiens syfte är att analysera vilka faktorer som påverkar Arméns sammanhållna ochstrukturerade erfarenhetshantering, hur processen fungerar i praktiken samt vilkautvecklingsmöjligheter som kan stärka organisationens fortsatta förmågeutveckling. Studienbygger på en kvalitativ forskningsdesign som kombinerar lärandeteorier med tiosemistrukturerade intervjuer med erfarna officerare. Materialet analyseras genom tematiskanalys och tolkas med stöd av Crossan et al:s 4I-modell samt Argyris teori om single- ochdouble-loop learning. Resultatet visar att Arméns erfarenhetshantering präglas av fragmenteradstruktur, otydliga processer, personberoende arbetssätt och resursbrist. Lärande skerkontinuerligt på individ- och gruppnivå, främst genom observationer, kollegiala samtal ochlokala forum, vilket innebär att de inledande stegen i 4I-modellen fungerar väl. Däremot ärintegrering och institutionalisering svagt utvecklade, vilket leder till ett systematisktlärandeläckage. Studien visar att Armén uppvisar starkt vardagligt lärande men saknarförutsättningar för att omsätta erfarenheter i varaktig organisatorisk utveckling.

Högupplösta oceanografiska modeller används i allt större utsträckning för att stödja militär prognosverksamhet i komplexa kustnära miljöer, men deras praktiska bidrag beror i stort på hur modellernas beteende kan omsättas i operativ kontext. Denna studie utvärderar prestanda hos den högupplösta oceanografiska modellen NEMO_sthlm i södra Mysingen i Stockholms skärgård, med fokus på modellens förmåga att reproducera observerade temperatur- och salthaltsstrukturer som är relevant för militär METOC-prognostisering.

Med utgångspunkt i designvetenskap jämförs modellutdata med in situ CTD-observationer insamlade under en sensommarfältkampanj samt att den jämförs även med två regionala oceanografiska modeller. Den kvantitativa utvärderingen visar att NEMO_sthlm återger områdets övergripande hydrografiska struktur, inklusive stratifiering och vattenmassornas karaktär, men samtidigt påvisas statistiskt signifikanta och systematiska skillnader mellan modell och observation. Dessa skillnader är främst kopplade till konsekventa bias i termoklin- och haloklindjup, vilket indikerar ett stabilt och fysiskt tolkningsbart modellbeteende.

Analysen visar att förutsägbara och fysiska felmönster blir tolkningsbara att de möjliggör att modellresultat kan integreras i prognosverksamhet. Studien demonstrerar hur kvantitativ modellutvärdering kan kopplas till operativ verksamhet och därigenom stärka högupplösta modellers roll som verktyg för förståelse och prognostolkning i skärgårdsmiljö och kustnära vatten.

This thesis encompasses learning in military organisations and how war experiences alter officer’s training and education. Sources from the Swedish Armed Forces officer’s training schools during 1910-1925 are systematically and qualitatively examined. The period contains peace, war, and post-war circumstances. The officer’s education and training system in Sweden is compared to Germany’s dito to create a comparative study of a war-fighting country and a non-fighting country, and the possible affect a war had on their armed forces’ officer’s training, respectively. The thesis also contains comparisons between the branches, analysing changes in both the army and marine schools’ curricula in both countries.

Changes in the curricula from all the war schools in Sweden during the period show some signs of learning from the First World War, even though Sweden did not take part in the war. However, there are differences between the different schools, branches, as well as between the countries. In essence, the Swedish Armed Forces’ officer’s training system was kept intact during and after the war, albeit with some changes. The German system was re-made during the war, and again after. The study shows nuances of adaptation and indicates some lessons learned from the First World War in Sweden, not previously covered in research.

 Denna studie antar rysk-ukrainska kriget 2022 som strategisk chock på vilken Nato-länderna reagerar genom att kraftigt utöka militära utgifter. Genom regressionsanalys av paneldata dras flera viktiga slutsatser varav en påvisar ett förändrat beteende bland allierade jämfört med tidigare forskningsresultat. Chock, till följd av ryska hot, leder till signifikant minskad friåkning i alliansen, något som varit debatterat i forskning och bland praktiker sedan åtminstone sextiotalet. Vidare utgörs den starkaste prediktorn för utökade militära utgifter efter 2022, mätt som andel av BNP, av delad landgräns med Ryssland. Denna variabels förklaringskraft överträffar traditionella operationaliseringar av geografiska variabler såsom avstånd mellan landgränser och avstånd mellan huvudstäder. Studiens teoretiska grund utgörs av kollektiv avskräckning i allianser och hur ekonomisk börda fördelas mellan allierade. Empiriskt fokus är förändring i Nato-allierades militära kostnader efter 2022.

The war in Ukraine is often portrayed as a transparent battlefield, where ISR makes concealment difficult. Yet Ukrainian forces achieved operational surprise when they crossed into Russia’s Kursk Oblast on the 6th of August 2024. This thesis explains how surprise was possible under high transparency by tracing the causal mechanisms behind the success of the operation. Using a theory-testing single-case design and process tracing, the study operationalizes six routes to surprise—time, space, method, technology, deception, and OPSEC—and evaluates predicted empirical traces in open-source material (institutional reporting, news articles, social media, and statements). The thesis’s main contribution is the development of a synthesized theoretical framework for achieving military surprise on a transparent battlefield by creating, protecting, and exploiting localized, temporary windows of opacity. It further identifies counter-ISR as a pivotal enabling factor that warrants treatment as a distinct component of surprise generation.

This study examines how bureaucratization is described and understood in the Swedish Armed Forces’ leadership communication. Using Carol Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to be? (WPR) approach, the analysis explores how responsibility, risk and governance are framed in the official podcast Gå på, marsch! The results show that bureaucratic problems are mainly presented as issues of professional culture and individual attitudes, rather than as consequences of structural or institutional conditions. Through concepts such as risk appetite and responsibility, officers are described both as part of the problem and as the key to the solution. By combining WPR with Meir Finkel’s theory of military flexibility and March and Olsen’s logic of appropriateness, the study shows how leadership language shapes what is seen as legitimate action. The findings suggest that leadership communication works as a form of internal governance by defining where responsibility is placed and which changes appear possible.

This study examines the explanatory value of sea power theory in the Ukrainian sea denial campaign in the Black Sea, advancing the hypothesis that technological development has generated a risk asymmetry that affects its core assumptions. In light of this, risk theory is applied as a complement to existing sea power theory using congruence analysis. The findings suggest that current theory requires revision to account for shifts in the value of geography, weaponry and naval bases. The growing salience of innovation is likewise apparent. Moreover, the analysis identifies systematic psychological factors that hold the potential to expand existing theories of sea power.

This thesis addresses the strategic challenge of reinforcing the Baltics, mitigating the Suwałki Gap issue, in the context of Sweden’s NATO accession. Historically, Nordic military mobility focused on a north-south axis to defend the High-North. However, the shifting security environment necessitates a critical analysis of the west-to-east axis to ensure NATO and Euro-Atlantic sustainment of the Baltics, leveraging Sweden’s new role as a transit and Host Nation Support country. Given the lack of a theory-derived military sustainment line criteria model, this research constructs an innovative Supply Chain Risk Management theory derived Criteria Model as an evaluation tool. Using this tool, three routes from Norway to Sweden and a Baltic SPOD are analysed and ranked. The findings explain required infrastructure improvements and capability development in the Nordics necessary to enable a viable bypass of the Suwałki corridor, confirming whether the problem is solved, or significant work remains to ensure effective reinforcement.

Denna studie undersöker hur psykologiska behov, självbestämd motivation, upplevt autonomistödjande ledarskap och organisatoriska förutsättningar relaterar till fysiska träningsbeteenden under första terminen av officersprogrammet. Självbestämmandeteorin (Self-Determination Theory; SDT) utgör teoretiskt ramverk och en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie genomfördes där 318 kadetter besvarade enkäten. Analysen genomfördes med korrelations- och hierarkisk regressionsanalys för att prova två hypoteser: (H1) Behovstillfredsställelse och självbestämd motivation har ett positivt samband med fysisk träning. (H2) Autonomistödjande ledarskap och organisatoriska förutsättningar har ett positivt samband med behovstillfredsställelse, självbestämd motivation och graden av fysisk träning. Resultatet visar att behovstillfredsställelse och självbestämd motivation är starkt relaterad till fysisk träningsmängd och frekvens, där självbestämd motivation var den starkaste prediktorn. Resultatet påvisar även att självbestämd motivation medierar behovstillfredsställelse och fysisk träning, vilket visar att behovstillfredsställelse inom en norm och regelstyrd militär kontext verkar genom psykologiska mekanismer snarare än direkt på beteendeeffekter. Resultatet visar även att upplevda organisatoriska förutsättningar och autonomistödjande ledarskap har ett tydligt samband med tillfredsställelsen av de grundläggande behoven och graden av självbestämd motivation, men saknar direkt koppling till fysisk träning och påverkar således beteendet indirekt.

This thesis examines the large-scale evacuation exercise Operation Stockholm 1961 as a part of the Swedish Cold War civil defense. The analysis is based on two sociological theorical frameworks: technocratic rationality and fantasy documents. These theoretical frameworks are made into ideal types, that are used to analyze what the exercise actually tested and how the exercise was presented to the larger audience.

Methodically the study is a qualitative, theory-guided case study, that uses historical archive data as the base for the analysis. The archive data contains exercise planning documents, public info sheets and press coverage. The emphasis of the analysis is on the planning rationale, understanding the conduct of the exercise and the public presentation of its execution.

The findings show that the exercise was less of a test of the civil defenses’ capabilities and more of a reflection of the technocratic planning rationale, with emphasis on control, hierarchy and processes. This was further exposed by the low level of participants and extra resources plus the lack of actual uncertainty. This was further reinforced by the press coverage, which was mostly positive and redefined the success to underline the competence of the civil defense organization.

The thesis concludes that Operation Stockholm 1961 can rather been seen as a technocratic and symbolic action that produces more legitimacy and reassurance for the citizens than the actual readiness of the Swedish civil defense.

This study analyses how gender equality is constructed as a problem in the Swedish Armed Forces. Using Carol Bacchi’s policy-analytical approach “What’s the Problem Represented to Be” (WPR), it analyses the problem representation produced in central governance and gender mainstreaming documents, which assumptions are taken for granted, what remains not problematized and what effect this causes. The analysis shows that gender equality is predominantly framed as a numerical and instrumental issue, defined by the underrepresentation of women. The solutions are therefore primarily formulated around “the need to recruit more women” while norms of masculinity, power relations and organizational culture largely remain silent in practice. Drawing on theories of hegemonic masculinity and tokenism, the study demonstrates how this problem representation risks reinforcing men as the normative standard and positioning women as the bearers of the equality issue, thereby limiting the transformative potential of gender equality work.

This interpretive study explores the commanding officers’ perspective of trust within Swedish army division and brigades when time is limited, as it probably would be when individuals and unit are replaces during operations in war.

Initially the army doctrine is problematized using Bacchi’s (2014) “What´s the problem represented to be?”. Then nine semi-structured interviews are analysed using Braun & Clarke (2006; 2021) thematic analysis method, the findings referred to research in the field of trust, swift trust and trust in military context.

The study shows that trust is formed intuitively but also that there are several things the organization could do or reflect on to make it happen more swiftly, highlighting the importance of the military education system and culture among other things.          

In this way the study contributes with a different perspective and new empirics within war studies, also relevant to the scientific field of trust.   

I en försämrad säkerhetsmiljö är soldaters och officerares inre drivkraft central för militär effektivitet, men den är fortfarande relativt outforskad i den dagliga militära praktiken. Denna studie undersöker hur inre drivkraft förstås och upplevs av personal vid Stockholms Amfibieregemente, samt hur den relaterar till problemrepresentationer i förbandets uppförandekod.

Med en kvalitativ tolkande ansats kombinerar studien Carol Bacchis ramverk What’s the Problem Represented to Be? med narrativ analys av semistrukturerade individuella intervjuer och fokusgruppsintervjuer med 32 soldater och officerare. Analysen vägleds av teorin om identitetsfusion.

Resultaten visar att inre drivkraft i första hand är identitetsbaserad snarare än instrumentell, och kopplas till plikt, tillhörighet och professionell självförståelse. Därmed upplevs tillgänglighet och uppgiftslösning som moraliska förpliktelser snarare än formella krav. Samtidigt som detta stärker prestation och sammanhållning väcker normaliseringen och internaliseringen av hög arbetsbelastning och högt tempo frågor om långsiktig hållbarhet i en svensk militär kontext i fredstid.

Denna kvalitativa studie belyser att det finns behov av att på ett systematiskt sätt tillgodose sig forskning i Försvarsmaktens skolor. Med ett försämrat säkerhetsläge i världen ställs det högre krav på Försvarsmaktens skolor att bidra med organisatoriskt lärande som ska stå emot oförutsedda händelser i framtiden. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av semistrukturella intervjuer med nio respondenter som är anställda vid Försvarsmaktens skolor. Den tematiska analysen synliggjorde tre teman; ”avsaknad av systematik för omhändertagande av forskning och erfarenheter”, ”ny tid, nya förutsättningar” och ”teori och praktik för att främja lärande”. Ansatsen är induktiv och för att kunna föra ett teoretiskt resonemang har Single Loop Learning och Double Loop Learning och Lessons Learned använts som teorier. Resultatet visade att det finns en avsaknad av att systematiskt kunna tillgodose sig forskning och erfarenhetsbaserad kunskap på Försvarsmaktens skolor. Däremot fanns det en vilja att utveckla detta för att få en mer fungerande organisation.

Detta svar argumenterar för att förslagen om att återinföra personminor i Sverige vilar på antaganden snarare än praktisk erfarenhet av minkrigföring. Garbino och Anctil Avoine ifrågasätter påståendena att moderna minor nu är "säkra" eftersom de kan självförstöra eller självdeaktivera, och noterar att sådan teknik redan fanns när Ottawakonventionen förhandlades fram och fortfarande ansågs otillräcklig för att motivera undantag från ett brett förbud. De bestrider också idén att dessa helt enkelt är traditionella nedgrävda minor och betonar att sådana system ofta fjärrlevereras av fordon, artilleri eller flygplan. Författarna menar vidare att interoperabilitetsproblem är överdrivna, eftersom Nato redan tillgodoser nationella skillnader och juridiska frågor kan hanteras nationellt. Operativt hävdar de att snabb utplacering av minfält är logistiskt krävande, särskilt för mobila eller luftburna enheter, vilket gör andra defensiva alternativ mer praktiska. Artikeln drar slutsatsen att demokratisk säkerhetspolitik bör prioritera återhållsamhet och avvisa vapen som inte borde användas.

This thesis examines military decision-making under uncertainty in the context of hybrid threats and counterintelligence operations conducted by the Swedish Armed Forces. The study analyses how uncertainty, agility and legitimacy interact in decision-making processes to enable initiative. Empirical data were collected through field observations and focus group interviews and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, guided by a theoretical framework based on Boyd’s OODA-loop. Findings indicate that military commanders seek to exercise agility under conditions of legal ambiguity, time pressure and potential risks to organisational reputation. Organisational agility and the prevailing culture are not perceived to promote or reward initiative. Initiative and individual agility can be enhanced when acceptance of uncertainty is seen as inherent to decision-making and when legal conditions are understood as enablers rather than obstacles. The study contributes an empirically grounded theoretical framework for decision-making under uncertainty and advances understanding of military decision-making in complex operational environments.

Studien undersöker, med hjälp av en kvalitativ forskningsansats och genom en kombination av diskursanalytiska perspektiv enligt Bacchi och Fairclough, hur logistik konstrueras som ett sammanbindande element i aktuella NATO-dokument på strategisk och operativ nivå. Analysen tar sin utgångspunkt i styrande policy och behandlar det konceptuella skiftet från logistik till sustainment.Den visar hur strategiska riktlinjer materialiseras genom NATO:s logistiska ramverk på den operativa nivån och hur inneboende problematiseringar omvandlas till koordinerande åtgärder. Därigenom bidrar studien till en fördjupad förståelse av NATO-logistik på operativ nivå, särskilt i relation till planering och genomförande av operationer. Avhandlingen stärker därutöver den analytiska förståelsen av NATO:s logistiska styrning och kan stödja nationell implementering.

This study examines whether Russian influence operations based on reflexive control affected Swedish decisions on the first military support package to Ukraine during the period from summer 2021 to February 2022. The research applies a theory-testing case study design using process tracing. Two competing explanatory models are assessed: external influence through Russian reflexive control and domestic constraints derived from legal and regulatory arms export frameworks. The empirical material consists of official documents, public statements and incident reporting. The findings show that Sweden was subjected to Russian reflexive control and that this influence shaped the security policy context of the decision. However, neither Russian influence nor legal restrictions on arms exports can, with sufficient certainty, explain the scope of Sweden’s first military support package to Ukraine. Rather, the decision appears to have emerged from the interaction of several factors rather than a single dominant cause.

Urban operations remain a recurring feature of contemporary armed conflict, while developing capability for combat in urban environments continues to present challenges. This study examines how Swedish Army officers perceive the extent to which training and exercises for combat in urban environments address operational demands. The study draws on qualitative interviews analysed through thematic analysis within an interpretive framework.

The findings indicate broad awareness among officers of the operational importance and complexity of urban environments. However, this awareness is not consistently reflected in training and exercise practice. Combat in urban environments is seldom integrated into larger exercises, progression beyond basic levels is limited, and the civilian dimension is rarely incorporated systematically. Leadership priorities and exercise structures shape what is implemented in practice. The study contributes an empirically grounded account of how organisational factors influence the development of capability for combat in urban environments within the Swedish Army.

Hybrid threats in the grey zone present a growing security concern for Sweden and Europe. Despite increased defence investments, empirical knowledge remains scarce on how well national strategies meet theoretical requirements for effective deterrence against hybrid threats in the grey zone.

This study analyses the National Security Strategy and the Total Defence Proposition 2025-2030 by operationalizing Monaghan's (2022) hybrid deterrence framework into ten indicators. A systematic content analysis assessed how well the documents fulfil requirements regarding capability, credibility, communication, denial and punishment deterrence.

The analysis reveals that Sweden's hybrid deterrence, as articulated in the documents, is theoretically aligned with Monaghan's framework but strongly imbalanced. The strategy contains robust denial deterrence through resilience and total defence, yet punishment mechanisms and explicit thresholds remain underdeveloped, creating a potential deterrence gap. The study indicates that small states may need to better integrate punishment mechanisms and communicate clearer consequences to strengthen hybrid deterrence.

This thesis tests Arash Heydarian Pashakhanlou’s Underdog’s Model (UM) of asymmetric airpower through a structured, focused comparison of the 1940 air campaigns in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. Using an evidence matrix and relative within-case assessments of the relatively disadvantaged belligerent in each campaign, it evaluates performance across six interlinked dimensions: creativity; self-sufficiency and external support; commitment; intelligence; dispersion and concentration; engagement of vulnerable military targets. In France, the Armée de l'Air underperforms its opponent on five dimensions (with commitment roughly equal), consistent with underdog failure to deny the opponent’s objectives. In Britain, the Royal Air Force outperforms its opponent on five dimensions (but underperforms on dispersion and concentration), consistent with successful denial. Overall, the study offers tentative support for UM’s holistic, probabilistic logic, while noting limits to inference from two cases and qualitative coding.

How has Nordic military cooperation transformed following the strategic shift represented by Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO? Previous academic and professional military research has largely relied on open sources and descriptive historical analysis. This thesis addresses that gap by using elite interviews and inductive thematic analysis to examine how changing strategic conditions shape military cooperation. The findings show that Nordic air cooperation is rapidly shifting from coordination on non-operational activities to enabling operational capability for NATO in the Nordic region. Shared strategic interests, geographical proximity, historical ties, and similarities in strategic culture emerge as key enablers for deeper cooperation, despite differing national priorities. The study also highlights practical implications, particularly the need for early professional education in Nordic cooperation. The results contribute both empirical insight into early NATO-integration dynamics in the Nordic air domain and broader understanding of how regional military cooperation can evolve into an operational resource within an alliance framework.

This study examines how logistics officers in the Swedish Army manage fric-tion and uncertainty, which improvisation strategies enable continuous sup-ply, and what factors may limit sustainment in war. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews based on a purposive sampling of logistics officers for variation in function, experience and geographical service using an integrated perspective on individual, organizational and cultural factors. The focus is on the human and practical dimension, interpretations, decisions, and adaptation of routines, rather than technical systems or quantitative calculations. The study contributes to highlighting the strategies and practices that in real life maintain combat readiness and thus examines how individual experiences and organizational norms are translated into operational action.

The international security environment has undergone significant transformationfollowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, resulting in accelerated military build-ups inEurope and a restructuring of global defence-industrial cooperation. In this context,South Korea and Sweden, as technologically advanced middle powers, face growingincentives to strengthen their defence industries and expand internationalcooperation. Despite increasing political engagement, however, systematic analysesof the structural conditions underpinning defence-industrial cooperation betweenthe two countries remain limited.The purpose of this study is to compare the defence-industrial structures of SouthKorea and Sweden and to analyze the strategic implications of bilateral cooperation.The study employs Michael Porter’s Diamond Model as the primary analyticalframework, complemented by SWOT and TOWS analyses to identify strengths,weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to formulate strategic cooperationoptions.The findings indicate that South Korea and Sweden possess complementarystrengths: South Korea benefits from large-scale production capacity, costcompetitiveness, and strong government-led export support, while Sweden holds acompetitive advantage in high-end technological niches such as aerospace, sensors,submarines and systems integration. At the same time, constraints related to exportcontrols, industrial scale, and geopolitical considerations are identified. The studyconcludes that a gradual and institutionally anchored cooperation strategy canenhance industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy for both countries,provided that political and regulatory risks are carefully managed.

Sweden’s NATO accession has introduced a dual requirement for C2 interoperability within the Armed Forces, combining robust national joint operations with effective multinational integration. This study examines how Swedish operational command is understood and described by actors in the transition from national responsibility under Article 3 to collective defence under Article 5. Drawing on doctrinal analysis and interviews with personnel at strategic, operational, and tactical levels, central tensions between ambition and practice are explored. The findings suggest that interoperability is primarily a cognitive and conceptual integration process rather than a purely technical adaptation. At the same time, operational tempo and freedom of action are described as constrained in relation to unclear roles, mandates, and limited internal coherence. The study suggests that leadership emerges as central for sensemaking and conceptual adaptation, while formal command authority is highlighted as important for maintaining vertical coherence and supporting robust C2 interoperability.

This study examines how sociotechnical imaginaries expressed in Swedish governing documents between 2017 and 2025 shape the development of cyber as a domain of warfare. Drawing on Jasanoff and Kim’s framework of sociotechnical imaginaries, the study analyses how imaginaries take shape, become embedded, encounter resistance and are extended in relation to major security policy shifts, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

The analysis shows that military capability development is a process in which capability is conceptually and institutionally shaped through the interaction of imaginaries, organisation and technology. 

Change following major security shifts is selective: strategic framings are revised comprehensively, while more fundamental understandings of cyber as a domain display greater stability. Institutionalisation through governing documents enables capability development but also constrains what can be re-imagined. 

The study also contributes an analytical model that shows how sociotechnical imaginaries shape the conditions under which military capability becomes thinkable, legitimate and actionable.

This qualitative study explores how Swedish Air Force fighter pilots experience their motivation to remain in service amid Sweden’s NATO accession, an intensified security environment, and organizational change. Ten semi-structured interviews with operational pilots (Blekinge and Luleå wings) conducted in November–December 2025 were analyzed using a theoretically informed, abductive thematic analysis grounded in Self-Determination Theory. Three themes explain their motivation: (1) professionalism as a source of meaning, shifting from the enjoyment of flying to the perceived importance of defending Sweden; (2) boundary management between work and everyday life, where workload, time, and family sustainability condition engagement; and (3) loyalty in an uncertain future, shaped by autonomy-supportive leadership, transparency, and career predictability. Overall, willingness to stay is strongest when the transition is meaningful, foreseeable, and fairly compensated, and weakest when rising demands combine with unclear future conditions and strained work–life sustainability.

This study investigates the role of work-life balance in a recent relocation decision made by the Swedish Armed Forces. Applying the “What is the problem represented to be?” (WPR) discourse analysis method to documents concerning budget submissions over a five-year period (2020–2024) and a relocation decision from 2017, this study identifies a common focus on the reduction of organizational vulnerability. The way the problem of organizational vulnerability is presented, however, neglects considerations of employees’ work-life balance and serves to make effects of organizational changes at the individual level invisible. Founded on a social constructivist perspective, the study therefore argues that this neglect of work-life balance in official discourse on organizational change may be counterproductive to the proposed aim of a reduction in organizational vulnerability.

Despite increased research on military veterans, little has examined how UK veterans end up in prison. This study addresses this gap through semi-structured interviews with 35 veteran prisoners, investigating their life courses from childhood, military service, civilian life, and into prison. Childhood difficulties—including pre-service contact with the criminal justice system and experiences of childhood neglect and abuse—shaped the participants’ military service experiences and re-entry to civilian society. In-service loss and trauma often led to mental health problems and substance misuse. Most participants regretted leaving the military and struggled to reintegrate into civilian society, citing loss of structure, purpose, and sense of belonging. Unemployment, homelessness, substance misuse, and mental health problems—exacerbated by loneliness and isolation—influenced later criminal offending and eventual imprisonment.

Green energy production has been created partly due to climate change through mitigation technologies (e.g. wind turbines) which have been introduced on and around Sámi lands, creating a paradox between mitigation and forced adaptation patterns for Sámi People and raising questions about adaptation and mitigation for whom? In global governance, legitimacy perceptions are important to understand how appropriately political institutions are governing in the eyes of relevant audiences, which can increase or decrease those audiences’ will to collaborate in improving governance. The chapter empirically studies whether Sámi People perceive the decisions of Nordic governments as legitimate in relation to the mobility paradox – the tension between Sámi mobility rights for reindeer herding and green energy production. Legitimacy perceptions hold the potential to define the opportunities of cooperation between Sámi People and Nordic governments to provide fair pathways to adapt to a changing climate, increasing the effectiveness and fairness of regional and national approaches to mobility and climate change. The chapter builds upon studies on normative-sociological legitimacy, Arctic environmental justice and green transition to investigate the mobility paradox and Sámi legitimacy perceptions, the justice-based sources of these perceptions and the implications for the study of effective and fairer energy governance and future mobility pathways.

Previous research has examined the United States’ strategy for supporting Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia while seeking to avoid escalation with Moscow. It is often suggested that the U.S. has used a gradual learning-by-doing approach driven by concerns about Russian escalation. This quantitative study explains variation in the composition of U.S. military materiel support to Ukraine between 2022 and 2024 through the concept of strategic signalling, using escalation- and needs-based logics.

Based on monthly observations the analysis suggest that U.S. support did not follow a reactive pattern in response to Russian nuclear threats or changes in battlefield intensity. Instead, variation is primarily associated with time, indicating a gradual calibration of assistance. This points to a measured support strategy and opens avenues for further research into the underlying mechanisms shaping the temporal dynamics of military material assistance.

This study examines why the Russian air assault operation against Hostomel Airfield in February 2022 failed despite achieving initial success. Using a theory-consuming single-case study design and process tracing, the analysis applies Stephen Biddle’s Modern System of Force Employment to assess competing explanations across three phases: preparations, assault, and defence. The findings indicate that the outcome is best explained by an inconsistent and unsustained application of key force employment mechanisms, including protection and concealment, dispersion, small-unit autonomy, suppressive fires, and combined arms integration. These deficiencies accumulated over time, progressively constraining survivability and operational freedom. Technological asymmetry is shown to have influenced the outcome, but primarily by exploiting existing vulnerabilities rather than acting as an independent cause. The study concludes that Biddle’s framework provides a coherent explanation for why early success at Hostomel could not be translated into enduring operational control.

Defence planning requires long-term decision-making under conditions of persistent uncertainty. This study examines how such uncertainty is articulated and managed in the Swedish Armed Force long-term defence planning from 2018 and 2022. Using Colin S. Gray´s framework on defence planning under uncertainty, the study employs a theory-driven qualitative content analysis. The analysis is based on three analytic themes: the certainty of strategic uncertainty, the balance between continuity and flexibility, and the relationship between ends, ways and means, complemented with an overarching perspective on technological uncertainty. The findings show that uncertainty is explicitly acknowledged in both documents but in different ways. The 2018 study approaches uncertainty through long term goals whereas the 2022 study focuses on adaptability. This thesis contributes to defence planning research by applying Gray’s framework to defence planning documents and by demonstrating how uncertainty is conveyed through Gray.

Joint operations offer significant military advantages, yet integration between service branches often encounters challenges. This study examines the integration of naval forces into national air defence, focusing on collaborative processes rather than organizational differences between the Navy and the Air Force. Using Collaborative Governance theory as an analytical framework, the study adopts a qualitative case study design and analysis of official documents, doctrinal texts, and interviews. The findings show that progress in the integration process was primarily driven by individual initiative and shared motivation rather than formal organizational directions. The study contributes to military integration research by identifying key processual factors that both enable and limit joint capability development.

This study examines the conditions for bottom-up-driven innovation in the Air Force through a theoretical lens informed by learning organization theory. Based on a qualitative interview study with twelve company commanders, the analysis identifies organizational frictions that constrain the progression of ideas into innovations. The study contributes to military science by illuminating how peacetime requirements for stability and compliance with rules and regulations foster adaptive rather than systematic learning, thereby limiting the organization’s capacity to adapt. The findings indicate that rigid regulatory frameworks and resource constraints inhibit idea development at the unit level. The conclusions emphasize that innovation must be regarded as a core military capability rather than a peripheral activity, to prevent organizational obsolescence in a dynamic operational environment. Overall, the study offers insights into how military organizations can balance peacetime governance with the need for continuous operational renewal in line with the professional demands placed on officers.

This study examines how intelligence analysts describe changes in their role in relation to the introduction of a Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) concept in the Swedish Armed Forces. Based on semi-structured interviews with eight senior intelligence professionals at military-strategic level, the study explores perceived changes in analytical work practices, competence requirements and inter-organizational cooperation. The analysis is based on organizational theory, primarily Mintzberg’s organizational configurations, and Bolman and Deal’s structural perspectives. The findings indicate that the analyst role is shifting from primarily individual, product-oriented analysis towards more integrated, process-oriented participation in operational decision-making. This transformation is driven not only by MDO, but also by technological development and Sweden’s NATO membership.The study contributes empirical insights on how intelligence functions must adapt to complex and multi-domain operational environments.

This thesis examines how learning conditions are produced in real time duringmilitary staff exercises when formal learning objectives meet time pressure,method requirements, and command routines. Using an interpretive casedesign with document analysis, non-participant observations from twoSwedish battalion staff exercises, and semi-structured interviews, the analysisidentifies four patterns: translation of goals into method compliance,regulation of participation and speaking time, whether friction is held forcollective examination or passed to protect tempo, and how reflection ispositioned and legitimised in the workflow. Drawing on Ellström, Schön, andEdmondson, the study shows how these micro-practices regulate scope foraction, shaping whether learning tends toward adaptive or developmentaldirections. It contributes the model “the real-time-control-knob”(realtidsreglaget), framing facilitation practices as an operational capabilitythat shifts learning direction.

This thesis examines which innovation attributes explain diffusion of reconnaissance drones in two military contexts: Sweden and Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While research on military innovation is extensive, less is known about how innovations diffuse within armed forces across conditions of peace and war, in small and medium-sized states. Building on Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, the study applies a most-different systems design to compare two cases that share drone diffusion but differ in security context, organizational structures and operational environment. Based on semi-structured elite interviews and document analysis, the study shows that relative advantage is the innovation attribute that consistently aligns with diffusion. Other attributes: compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability, do not determine whether diffusion occurs, but influence its speed, resource demands and degree of institutionalization. The findings refine and extend Rogers’ diffusion theory by showing that relative advantage may be sufficient for diffusion in military context.

During the Cold War early warning was one of the most important tasks for the intelligence agencies. In a new emerging world order the ability to early warning has been brought back into focus.  

Meeting these new challenges requires not only a contemporary organization, but also an organizational culture that is oriented towards the future. This study examines organizational culture within the Swedish military intelligence and its approach to early warning. 

The study shows that within the Swedish military intelligence there is a high level of trust, which create good opportunities to face the unknown. At the same time, the study also shows that there are cultural challenges in moving from a previous idea of what early warning was, to new understandings about what a new and unpredictable environment means for what risks we identify.

Sweden’s accession to NATO entails a fundamental reconfiguration of the doctrinal conditions shaping the Swedish Air Force. This study examines how military cooperation is articulated through tensions between NATO and Swedish doctrines, and how these representations affect the strategic room for manoeuvre of a small-state air force. Drawing on Carol Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to be? (WPR) approach, the study conducts a qualitative, comparative analysis of key NATO and Swedish doctrinal texts. The findings reveal a strong convergence around deterrence, tempo, and interoperability as organising logics, in which flexibility is increasingly defined through standardisation. At the same time, small-state constraints, asymmetries, and dependencies are largely left unproblematised. The study argues that the resulting tension between great-power-oriented doctrinal rationality and small-state survival logic should not be understood solely as a limitation, but as a potential strategic resource for the Swedish Air Force within the alliance.

This pilot study examines whether trust in AI-supported intelligence analysis can be operationalised and analysed through experimental vignette design in a Swedish military context. Twenty-five officers with military intelligence analysis experience were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes manipulating analytic tradecraft dimensions (transparency and alternative hypotheses) in AI-generated assessments. Situational trust (S-TIAS), behavioural intention (BI), and dispositional trust (HTP and MTP) were measured. The instruments demonstrated high internal consistency, and situational trust correlated strongly with behavioural intention, indicating that trust functions as a context-specific mechanism in this setting rather than a general attitude toward technology. The tradecraft manipulations produced small and non-significant effects, suggesting limited detectability in a small pilot sample. Qualitative responses nevertheless highlighted transparency and structured reasoning as central to professional trust assessments. The study demonstrates methodological feasibility in a security-sensitive setting while identifying design constraints for future, larger-scale investigations of AI integration in military decision-making under uncertainty.

As transparency increases on the contemporary battlefield, most scholars attribute military outcomes to technological superiority, yet this study assesses whether tactical adaptation remains the decisive factor for success. Applying Stephen Biddle’s Modern System of Force Employment (MSFE), the study conducts a structured, focused comparison of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and the 2022 Russian offensive toward Kyiv.

The analysis operationalizes key components of force employment and assesses how these were shaped by persistent surveillance, precision fires and unmanned systems. Drawing on open-source military reporting and operational analyses, the findings indicate that Azerbaijani success and Russian failure are better explained by differences in tactical adaptation and organizational employment of forces than by technological capabilities or numerical superiority.

 The study contributes to the ”transparent battlefield” debate by demonstrating that modern outcomes are primarily driven by how forces adapt MSFE components under conditions of pervasive surveillance and precision strike.