Strategisk teoris bidrag till förståelse av svensk säkerhets- och försvarspolitik

Abstract

Title: Deterrence and the Added Value of Strategic Theory in Understanding Swedish Security and Defence Policies

What is the added value of strategic theory in the understanding of Swedish security and defence policies? By introducing a series of concepts that identify policies that are pursued in both peace and war such as escalation, deterrence, and weapons acquisition, we argue that strategic concepts contribute to the analysis of Swedish security policy mainly by highlighting forms of policy that do not conceptually rest upon the dichotomy of war and peace. Differently from mainstream
scholarly analysis that treats deterrence as one, uniform concept, we differentiate between four different logics of deterrence. Using this conceptual tool, we analyse Swedish policies in the s and s and discover that although Sweden pursued deterrence during both this periods, her policies depend on a different logic. By comparison, 1950s Sweden understood to pursue deterrence understood as a wall, while 2010s Sweden understands the term in terms of a shield.