Kommuners civila beredskap - En studie om den statliga styrningen av svenska kommuners civila beredskap utifrån ett resiliensperspektiv

Sammanfattning

This thesis aims to examine how resilience can contribute to the understanding of state governance of municipal civil preparedness in Sweden. Against the backdrop of a worsened security environment, climate-related risks, pandemics and other cross-border crises, issues concerning preparedness and societal resilience have become increasingly central in both research and policy. The study is conducted through a qualitative text analysis of central Swedish governance documents concerning municipal crisis preparedness and civil defence, including legislation, a government bill and a government official report. The analysis draws on Per Becker’s (2023) resilience framework and focuses on four interconnected capacities: anticipation, identification, adaptation and learning. The findings show that the governance of municipal civil preparedness is strongly oriented towards anticipatory and proactive adaptive capacities, particularly through risk and vulnerability assessments, continuity planning and preparedness measures linked to heightened alert and war. The analysis also identifies tensions within the governance framework, especially between stability and flexibility, as well as between long-term preparedness and short-term urgent threats. Although the learning capacity is present through exercises, evaluations and training, it appears less institutionalised than for example the anticipatory capacity. The thesis argues that resilience contributes to the understanding of civil preparedness governance by making it possible to analyse how the state seeks to organise and strengthen municipal capacities to manage uncertainty over time, rather than merely regulate responsibilites during crises.