FEW NATIONS HAVE EXPERIENCED as many radical U-turns in its defence policy in such short a time as Sweden. The most recent of these U-turns is seeing the Ulf Kristersson government spearheading military rearmament and the building of a more resilient civil society. The Total Defence (Totalförsvaret) is a two-pronged strategy aimed at mobilising the armed forces in tandem with a militarised civil society to resist invasion, a strategy which defined Sweden during the Cold War. At its height it was a colossal organisation; in 1964 Sweden had the ability to mobilise 800 000 soldiers, while boasting one of the world’s largest air forces and an entire “reserve society” (reservsamhället). The reserve society included vast underground bunkers for non-combatants and civilian leadership; equipped with stores of agricultural products, medicine and entire underground lakes of oil.
Wartime posting (krigsplacering) was not just limited to conscript soldiers: Both people and companies had wartime postings, which could include doctors, teachers, mechanics, and marketing experts as well as weapons manufacturers like Saab and communications companies like Ericsson. The Total Defence is an organisation the Prime minister has experience with, having served as a platoon commander for the Signal Regiment in Enköping between 1983 and 1984.
The collapse of the Soviet Union had analysts concluding that without the threat of invasion there was no longer a need for a Total Defence, which was now regarded as an inefficient solution in a world of increasingly asymmetrical threats to national security. In this new reality Sweden’s defence pivoted to Operative Defence (Insatsförsvaret), a doctrine centred on a small and professional force of soldiers capable of effectively participating in international operations, often within the framework of the United Nations. To this end, defence spending was cut (falling from 3,8% of GDP in 1960 to 1% in 2017) and conscription was “made dormant” in 2010.
The turn to Operative Defence presupposed that the Russian Federation no longer remained a geopolitical rival to Sweden. A resurgence of Russian irredentism and military operations in Ukraine and Georgia made the question of invasion defence-planning salient. In 2012 the then Supreme Commander of Sweden’s armed forces Sverker Göranson, announced that in the event of an attack against “a limited area” Sweden could hold out for a week against an armed invasion on its own. In light of these developments it was decided that the armed forces would once again focus on deterring invasions. In 2015 the decision to raise defence spending was taken for the first time in decades, followed by the reactivation of conscription in 2017.
“There was no longer a need for a Total Defence, which was now regarded as an inefficient solution in a world of increasingly asymmetrical threats to national security. The turn to Operative Defence presupposed that the Russian Federation no longer remained a geopolitical rival to Sweden.”
Although rearmament is a lengthy process, it could be sped up by the expertise retained by the professional operations defence force. It is however much more difficult to reactivate the civil component of the Total Defence, a component that relies on a collectivist culture marked by a sense of duty being instilled in the entire population. This makes the question of how to effectively get the population behind a modern Total Defence pivotal to national security.
Modern total defence has become a priority to the Kristersson government. In a speech at the conference “Folk och Försvar”, he concluded that Swedish rearmament must occur across multiple sectors of society, saying that: “The military, civilian, and technological must form a cohesive whole”.10 Following this statement, the prime minister announced the new post of Minister for Civil Defence [Carl-Oskar Bohlin]. The dedication to a new two-pronged defence strategy is now reflected in the composition of the prime minister’s cabinet. The rhetoric from the minister of Civil Defence has been that it is the people’s duty to defend society, not the other way around. Later on in the speech, the prime minister attempts at associating citizenship with a will to defend the country, citizenship “primarily are about defending the country, weapon in hand with one’s own life at stake”.
This is a rather odd statement, given that civil rearmament is currently Sweden’s biggest hurdle. In glorifying military action and the idea of the final sacrifice he ignores that the cornerstone of the old Total Defence was a militarised civil society, in which a common understanding existed that everyone had a part to play. Civilian mechanics would carry out vital repairs, doctors would be saving lives, while manufacturers could keep the economy running. The goal was to have the people defending society, not the other way around. Even society’s most vulnerable members had a part to play by ensuring that they would not become a burden in wartime.
“The prime minister attempts at associating citizenship with a will to defend the country, citizenship “primarily are about defending the country, weapon in hand with one’s own life at stake”.”
The remilitarisation of Swedish society will require a fundamental shift in culture for a nation that has long since moved away from the collectivist values of the Cold War’s “Folkhemmet” in favour of liberal individualism. Under Kristersson, the Moderate party has turned away from a free market liberal internationalism and instead embraced a social conservative platform. Growing criticism against past years of more liberal immigration policy has fuelled an increased support for the far-right populist party Sweden Democrats. This shift in public opinion has accompanied a nostalgia for the old Folkhem, a decisively Social Democratic project which has mixed with nationalism in contemporary Swedish politics.
Although the prime minister himself is decidedly market liberal rather than conservative, having served as marketing manager for the think-tank Timbro, efforts have been made to change the normative view on citizenship, along with reforming the government apparatuses and the armed forces. With Sweden’s accession to NATO forcing the country into a more interventionist role on the world stage it will be interesting to see how a modern Total Defence can not only be civically revitalised but also militarily deployed in the service of NATO.
