The edited volume Policing the Grey Zone has been published open access through the NATO Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP).
The volume brings together scholars and practitioners from over a dozen countries and examines how states can understand and respond to security challenges that fall short of open armed conflict. It explores the legal, organizational, and operational dimensions of the grey zone, including hybrid threats, disinformation, cyber operations, and the policing of complex security environments—both domestically and internationally. Importantly, the contributions also offer critical perspectives on prevailing security practices and assumptions, highlighting tensions, dilemmas, and unintended consequences in contemporary security governance.
The volume includes the chapter “Doing the Wrong Thing Right – Tactical Improvisation and Professional Judgment in Counter-Terrorism Intervention Units”, co-authored by Ludvig Björklund and Lotta Victor Tillberg.
The book is the result of the work of ERGOMAS (European Research Group on Military and Society) Working Group on Police–Military Relations. The volume was initiated by the chairs of the working group, Marina Caparini and David Last, whose outstanding editorial work was instrumental in guiding the project to publication. The ERGOMAS conference took place at Södertörn University in 2024 and was made possible through a collaboration between ERGOMAS, the Swedish Centre for the Studies of Armed Forces and Society (CSMS), and the Department of Police Science at Södertörn University.
Link to the book: Policing the Grey Zone
Link to: the NATO Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP).
Lotta Victor Tillberg
The Swedish Centre for Studies of Armed Forces and Society, SE
