FRÅN INFORMATION TILL ANSVAR : En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av hur medborgarrollen konstrueras i svensk krisberedskap

Sammanfattning

Due to the deteriorating security situation in Europe, Sweden has increasingly directed its crisis communication towards mobilizing citizens to take greater responsibility for their own preparedness. This study analyzes how citizen responsibility is constructed in two versions of the governmental brochure If Crisis or War Comes, distributed to all Swedish households in 2018 and 2024. Grounded in social constructivism, framing theory and institutional trust theory, the study uses qualitative content analysis to examine how constructions of responsibility relate to state legitimacy and institutional trust. The findings show that both versions position individual responsibility as a central and expected part of citizenship, though the 2024 version is more explicit and concrete, linking everyday preparedness directly to total defence. The framing of risks also shifts between versions. From possible future events in 2018 to an ongoing and present threat in 2024. The study concludes that governmental crisis communication actively constructs a reality in which individual responsibility appears self-evident and morally obligatory, raising questions about democratic implications in a country that ranks lowest in civil defence trust among the Nordic countries.