About CSMS

The Swedish Centre for Studies of Armed Forces and Society (CSMS) was founded in 2011. The aim is to initiate and conduct research, create possibilities for national as well as international research collaboration and provide arenas for dialogue between researchers and practitioners, government agencies, organisations and the trade and industry. The CSMS vision is to by means of multidisciplinary research create new knowledge relevant to practitioners, researchers, government agencies and interest groups.

The anchoring idea of CSMS is that research on military institutions is better carried out outside the boundaries of universities, organisations and disciplines and in connection with the international research community. Thus, CSMS continues a tradition formed by the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, instituted in 1960 by Morris Janowitch at the University of Chicago.

CSMS includes researchers and students from different universities, institutions and academic fields. A common vantage point is that research on military organisations, across disciplinary boundaries, makes up an important contribution to the democratic influence over the armed forces.

Overarching research themes at CSMS are:

• Defence in change – democratic control and civil-military relations
• Perspectives on the profession – organisation, structure and power relations
• Practical knowledge in the context of crisis and conflict
• Modern military professionalism – learning and competence provision

The foundation of the centre is comprised of researchers with their background in different scientific disciplines such as professional knowledge, global studies, business administration, political science, technology, sociology and law.

CSMS collaborates with several organisations and universities. The primary aim is exchanging ideas and creating new knowledge of military organising and civil-military relations.

Some of the organisations currently in collaboration with CSMS:

The Institute for Management of Innovation and Technology (IMIT) was established in 1979 through co-operation between the Swedish Institute of Management (IFL), Chalmers University och Technology, the Stockholm School of Economics, the Royal Institute of Technology, and Lund Institute of Technology. Since then IMITs aim has been to pursue and promote research and development in technical and industrial renewal and administration, as well as participating in training in this sphere. IMIT's research Is primarily concerned with how the benefits of technical development can be improved by providing knowledge of industrial management and economics. IMIT acts as a creative link between the development of scientific knowledge in academia and actual industrial renewal work. The purpose is to facilitate the collaboration and knowledge exchange between the two cultures on which industry largely is based, namely, technology and engineers on one side and management experts and economics on the other.

Scandinavian Military Studies (SMS) is a network of researchers and military personnel working on questions about military practice and organisation. The network consists of CSMS, the Royal Danish Defence College, the Norwegian Defence University, the Swedish Defence University and Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen. SMS has a scientific journal, Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies (SJMS), which publishes open access articles and monographs.

Nordic Association for Research on Military Profession is a network of researchers interested in different questions relating to the military profession from a Nordic perspective. Our first joint project was to write an anthology titled Social Transformations of the Military Profession and Professionalism in Scandinavia. The book was published in 2022 and can be downloaded here. The network participated at CSMS international conference Modern Military Professionalism in Stockholm, Sweden, June 15-16, 2020.

Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (IUS), was founded in 1969 by Morris Janowitz at the University of Chicago. IUS is a forum where researchers, military personnel and students can connect and exchange research findings and knowledge from military practice and civil-military relations. IUS has about 600 members from 35 countries. Since 1974, IUS publishes scientific articles in the journal Armed Forces & Society.

European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS) was formed in 1986. ERGOMAS started as a European network for researchers interested in various aspects of the relations between the military and society. As of today, its members originate from all over the world. ERGOMAS-members meet regularly in different work groups and come together in a biannual international conference.

The SOM institute is an independent research organisation at the University of Gothenburg. Since 1986, the SOM institute has been working together with researchers from a wide range of disciplines in order to delineate public opinion and understanding societal development in Sweden. The SOM institute has since the beginning been focusing on the habits, attitudes, behaviours and trust of the population when it comes to the broad areas of Society, Opinion and Media. Today, the vast amount of surveys and data collected offer unique possibilities when it comes to cross-sectional analysis, following changes in opinion over time or conducting methodological studies. The Swedish people's perception on defence- and security politics are surveyed and is published annually in the SOM book. 

Personnel at CSMS (selection)

Peter Tillberg is an officer and has previously worked in the Swedish Armed Forces with soldier and officer training. Peter is a researcher and has worked for over 20 years as a project manager in the Swedish Armed Forces and at the Swedish Defence University with issues related to leadership, organisation, technology and military professional knowledge in critical situations. Since 2011, Peter is the director at the Swedish Centre for Studies of Military and Society (CSMS) and project manager at  the IMIT Foundation. Peter is executive editor at the journal Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies (SJMS). Peter is a PhD candidate at the Department of Industrial Economics and Organisation at the Royal Institute of Technology. 

Joakim Berndtsson is a lecturer at the Department of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg. Berndtsson's main research interest revolves around the increasing use of private security companies in and around armed conflicts and the consequences of this development for state control over means of violence and civil-military relations. In 2009, he defended his dissertation on the use of security companies in Iraq, and has since published several articles on the subject. He has also conducted a study for the Swedish Armed Forces on Swedish officers' attitudes towards the security industry as an actor in high-risk areas and as a potential career path. Together with Karl Ydén, he participates in a larger research project within the framework of CSMS where the Swedish opinion on the Swedish Armed Forces and its mission is analysed using data from the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg.

Lotta Victor Tillberg is a Doctor of Philosophy in professional knowledge and technology, graduated in 2007 from the Royal Institute of Technology, and since 2015, a docent in the theory of practical knowledge. She has worked on issues of military professional knowledge since 1996, with a particular focus on professional knowledge and the significance of practical knowledge in difficult-to-assess situations. Lotta contributes to the anthology Uppdrag utland – militära exempel från internationella uppdrag (2007). She published the book Konsten att vårda – om att vara professionell i svårbedömda situationer in 2010 about healthcare workers' professional knowledge. She is also the author of the book Uppdrag Chef – åtta militära chefers erfarenheter från internationella operationer, together with Peter Tillberg (2011). Since 2010, she has been teaching practical knowledge at the Centre for Practical Knowledge at Södertörn University. She is currently working as a researcher in the projects 'modern military profession' and 'veteran in Sweden' at the Centre for Studies of Military and Society at the Royal Institute of Technology.

Karl Ydén, PhD, studies the different action logics of military organisations and how the military is affected by clients, tasks and changing competency requirements. The military of industrial democracies are undergoing significant changes regarding clients, tasks and competency requirements, which are related to globalisation and technological development as well as efficiency requirements connected to administration and the nature of modern military threats and conflicts. Together with Joakim Berndtsson, he participates in a larger research project within the framework of CSMS where the Swedish opinion on the Swedish Armed Forces and its mission is analysed using data from the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg. Karl Ydén is a reserve officer in the Swedish Armed Forces, has completed international service and is mainly active at Chalmers University of Technology and a visiting researcher at King's College London, Department of War Studies.