From Threat Perception to Policy Action : A Study on Sweden's Securitization of Russian Hybrid Threats and the Reimplementation of Sweden's Total Defence

Sammanfattning

The rapid advancements in technology and globalization have resulted in new threats to national security which differ from those of traditional military warfare. In its annexation of Crimea, Russia utilized hybrid warfare to target Ukrainian infrastructure through economic, political, cyber, and informational means, and in light of these aggressions, Sweden made the decision to reimplement its total defence system. This thesis examines to what extent Russian hybrid threats have been securitized by the Swedish government and how it connects to its reimplementation of the total defence system, as well as how this connection can be explained through the lens of constructivism. The thesis builds on a case study of the reimplementation of the Swedish total defence and analyses policy documents published by the Swedish riksdag through a qualitative content analysis with the theoretical framework of definitions of hybrid warfare, securitization theory, and constructivism. The results show that the Swedish government have, between 2014 and 2016, securitized Russian hybrid threats and made them a prioritized security issue which led to the decision to resume the planning of the total defence system in 2015. Additionally, the results present that, through the lens of constructivism, this connection can be explained by Sweden's shift in its perception of Russia and Russia's actions after its annexation of Crimea, after having dismantled its total defence after the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War and switching security prioritizations until the annexation of Crimea in 2014.