Navigating Collaboration: Understanding Civil-Military Interactions in Swedish Total Defence From a Security Network Perspective by Victor Tillberg, Berndtsson & Tillberg

In the article Navigating Collaboration: Understanding Civil- Military Interactions in Swedish Total Defence From a Security Network Perspective we investigates collaboration from the perspective of both civilian and military actors alike. We understand collaboration to be a relational concept, a collective activity carried out jointly by actors in pursuit of specific goals. The relations between “civilian” and “military” actors, and their perspectives, are particularly relevant for understanding how representatives of seemingly disparate organizations, organizational cultures and professional identities understand collaboration within the framework of contemporary total defence. Thus, this exploratory study aims to further our understanding of civil-military collaboration in complex defence networks.

Photo: Joel Thungren, Swedish Armed Forces

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to our knowledge of civil-military collaboration within the framework of contemporary Swedish total defence planning and organizing. The exploratory study focuses on perspectives on collaboration among civilian and military actors at the local and regional levels of the Swedish total defence network. Empirically, the study draws on official documents, policies, reports and interviews with civilian and military officials in Sweden. The analysis explores assumptions about, and understandings of, roles, relationships, shared goals, responsibilities and governance, pointing to several potential challenges to inter-organizational and inter-group collaboration. The study, showing how understandings and perspectives held by collaborators serve to shape the nature of their relations, identifies a potential need for collaborative actors, civil and military, capable of performing a “double grasp” – that is, of representing their organization while understanding and handling their counterpart’s perspective on (and often lack of knowledge about) their own organization and requirements. The article identifies several avenues for future research into civil-military collaboration in practice, and across country contexts.

Keywords: civil-military collaboration, security networks, total defence, Sweden

... the main problem may not be the perceived lack of clear frameworks for collaboration (policies, regulations, formulated objectives); rather, perceived ambiguities could be based on misunderstandings of the “other”. What is lacking is knowledge about the (civilian or military) collaborating actor’s circumstances, conditions, state of knowledge, assumptions, mandate and their room for manoeuvre....

Excerpt from the introduction:

At the end of 2015, in light of a deteriorating security situation exacerbated by the Russian annexation of Crimea the previous year, the Swedish government decided to resume planning the execution of its total defence strategy (Government decision, 10 December 2015). In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the concept of total defence has made an emphatic return across the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions. Internationally, similar trends can be traced, where concepts such as “whole force” (UK), “comprehensive security” (Finland), “total force” (USA) or “defence team” (Canada) signal a move towards collaborative and integrated defence arrangements designed to meet and deal with threats and crises (; ; ; ).

Underlying such development is the need for nations to deal with threats both old and new – conventional war, transboundary crises, and, increasingly, non-traditional or hybrid threats (; ). The fundamental idea of total defence is that the combination of civil and military defence creates resilience and the ability to “deter a potential enemy by raising the cost of aggression and lowering the chances of its success” (). Collaborative civil-military interaction is thus at the heart of the total defence concept.

In Sweden, the current emphasis on total defence underscores the need for well-functioning collaboration across boundaries. Increasing the overall total defence capability requires planning and development involving public and private actors across all societal levels and sectors. As set out by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF):

If Sweden is attacked, the Swedish Armed Forces will, with support from the rest of the total defence system, defend Sweden to buy time, create freedom of action and ultimately ensure the country’s independence. … The greatest possible defence effect is achieved through mutual support and civil-military collaboration.” ().

Although the need for civil-military collaboration is clearly stated in myriad policies and decisions on Swedish total defence, it is neither simple nor problem-free. Research on total defence and crisis management collaboration has shown how a lack of communication, trust and unclear responsibilities, and differences in organizational culture and relationships between key personnel, can impede cross-sectoral or inter-organizational collaboration and governance (see, for example, ; ; ; ; ; ). Other problem areas concern conflicts of goals and interests, and potential conflicts between civil (public) management principles and military traditions of command and leadership ().

Total defence is not a formal organization in the traditional sense; it may be seen as a quantity of “collaborative arrangements” within what Whelan () calls “security networks”. These networks include both public and private and national and international organizations, interests, objectives and resources (). By definition, total defence involves “the whole of society” (), including a number of actors and organizations from all sectors. Inter-organizational collaboration issues are clearly central to the development of Sweden’s “new” total defence (, , , ). Its inherent complexity has consequences for leadership and collaboration – and, moreover, key elements of Sweden’s total defence are still being developed, further challenging the ability of actors to act collectively.

One of the most important changes was the 2022 reform of the structure for civil defence and crisis preparedness, dividing the country into six civil defence areas, each with a responsible county administrative board, and ten preparedness sectors, each with a responsible government agency (; ; ; ). Developments such as these, as well as additional requirements for adaptation brought about by the Swedish NATO membership, impact the structural and relational conditions for civil-military collaboration.

This article investigates collaboration from the perspective of both civilian and military actors alike. We understand collaboration to be a relational concept, a collective activity carried out jointly by actors in pursuit of specific goals. The relations between “civilian” and “military” actors, and their perspectives, are particularly relevant for understanding how representatives of seemingly disparate organizations, organizational cultures and professional identities understand collaboration within the framework of contemporary total defence. Thus, this exploratory study aims to further our understanding of civil-military collaboration in complex defence networks.

The study addresses the following questions: “How do Swedish civilian and military actors understand regional- and local-level collaboration?” and “What are the challenges for inter-organizational collaboration that can be identified in the light of organizational changes in Sweden’s total defence?” Theoretically, we draw on Whelan’s (, ) research on collaboration in security networks. Empirically, the qualitative analysis is based on a wide range of official documents, including policy documents on and evaluations of total defence collaboration, as well as interviews with representatives of civilian and military organizations at local and regional levels. By analysing perspectives on collaboration, we also gain an insight into how actors understand each other’s role in collaborative work and what opportunities and problems this, in turn, can generate.

Photo: Joel Thungren, Swedish Armed Forces

This article can be downloaded from SJMS homepage: https://sjms.nu/articles/10.31374/sjms.288

TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Victor Tillberg, L., Berndtsson, J., & Tillberg, P. (2025). Navigating Collaboration: Understanding Civil-Military Interactions in Swedish Total Defence From a Security Network Perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies, 8(1), pp. 40–56. DOI: https://doi. org/10.31374/sjms.288

And here is also a PDF of the article.