| 1. |
- Erlandsson, Susanna, 1970-
(författare)
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Window of opportunity : Dutch and Swedish security ideas and strategies 1942–1948
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The period treated in this thesis is one which is often characterized as a transition between World War II and the Cold War. By approaching it instead as a window of opportunity – a period in which the governments of small states perceived both an unusual space and an urgent need to reevaluate security – the security policies of two small northwestern European countries, the Netherlands and Sweden, are subjected to a critical reappraisal. Through a systematic comparison of the security ideas and strategies in two countries that ended up with different positions on alignment/non-alignment during the Cold War, this dissertation sheds new light on the reasons for the development of those security policies as well as on their significance. Not only does it uncover a number of concrete security strategies that were remarkably similar regardless of different circumstances, but it shows that the Swedish and Dutch governments formed similar ideas about the needs for future security in spite of different war experiences. Both concluded that small states could no longer survive in isolation and instead aimed for a better functioning system of collective security, built on the close cooperation of regional groups. This thesis argues that the different choices regarding security in 1948, when the Dutch signed the Treaty of Brussels and the Swedish reclaimed a policy of non-alignment, were in fact motivated by the same wish to maintain as wide a margin for manoeuvre as possible for the cooperation envisioned during the war, seeing this as the best guarantee of peace and independence.
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| 2. |
- Notini Burch, Cecilia, 1981-
(författare)
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A Cold War Pursuit : Soviet refugees in Sweden, 1945-54
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- What determines refugee policies in liberal democracies? Humanitarianism? International relations? Economics? Identity issues? International law? Concerns for national security? This book explores these factors through a case study of non-aligned Sweden’s management of Soviet refugees during the first decade of the Cold War. The policy of admission and political asylum; the government’s handling of direct Soviet demands regarding refugees; the Swedish authorities’ surveillance strategies and the continuing living conditions of individuals who were permitted to stay, are all studied in depth. The results demonstrate that refugees’ right to protection was successively strengthened during the period, as asylum policies were reformulated as a matter more of (international) law than (national) politics. That said, however, some refugees – Russian speakers in particular – were generally regarded as more untrustworthy than others and were subjected to severe control measures, such as, for example, rigorous restrictions placed on their movement. The treatment they received fluctuated significantly in tandem with the bipolar tensions of the Cold War. Here, ethnic prejudice influenced perceptions of threat.This book thus contributes to our understanding of the Cold War and the considerable impact it had on widespread aspects of society. However, it also facilitates a more thorough comprehension of the fundamental prerequisites of refugee policies in general. In particular, it pertains to the paramount question: what are the conditions for humanitarian policies in times of international tension? This is a highly relevant issue in the post 9/11 world in which security concerns and migration policies are firmly entangled, and where counter-terrorism measures have increased the difficulties faced by all refugees who strive to reach the West.
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| 3. |
- Hedén, Anne, 1959-
(författare)
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Röd stjärna över Sverige : Folkrepubliken Kina som resurs i den svenska vänsterradikaliseringen under 1960- och 1970-talen
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to assess and analyze the image of revolutionary China in the eyes of Swedish left wing travelers and activists during the heyday of Maoism, and how these traveler’s and activist’s reports and texts were used to promote friendship activism with China. Of particular interest is how the euphoric view of China in the west, during the Cultural revolution, was promoted and also the reasons behind the Swedish Friendship Associations strong enthusiasm for this task.The analytical approach is influenced by Bourdieu’s field theory and central concepts like cultural and social capital, with the foremost intent of studying the motivation behind The New Left quest for utopias and the creation of these utopias.The empirical study is focused on the archive material of the Swedish-Chinese Friendship Association, SKF/SKVF, and the main Swedish Maoist party KFML/Skp, and on literature and press articles on China during the period 1952-1979, with emphasis on the years between 1966 and 1979.Contributing strongly to the positive image of China that developed in the western world from the mid sixties onwards was the notion that the Chinese people were creating a new brand of socialism. The Swedish Maoist sphere and the Friendship Association continually produced friendship travelers reports on what was regarded, by the Maoists and friends of China, as a fully developed revolutionary example. The KFML/Skp and Swedish-Chinese Friendship association were, during the late sixties and the early seventies, very close in their respective interpretation of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as a democratic and grassroot-oriented political process.Even in broader circles than the new left, China was during this period regarded as a most progressive third world country.The Swedish-Chinese Friendship Association was, up to the mid seventies a natural part of the Swedish New Left movements where solidarity with China became a way of making an argument for a future Swedish socialist society. Friendship with China could on different levels provide various forms of social and cultural capital in the ongoing struggle for the precedence of interpretation in the left wing-field during the 1960s and 1970s period.In the mid seventies the Swedish friends of China and the Maoist sphere rallied behind the Chinese foreign policy doctrine of the three worlds, (supermaktsteorin). Now the Maoists, and the Friendship Association defended the Chinese position that World War III loomed, and that the Soviet Union would be the most aggressive part in this war. Information about China which did not emanate from the Chinese network was regarderd by the Swedish Friendship Association and by the Maoist sphere as manufactured and directed by the political opponents of the People’s Republic.The effort to be close to the Chinese network was in the Swedish Maoist and Friendship sphere thus as important during the late 1970s as during the most intense period of the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969.My conclusion is that the contacts with the Chinese carried some weight in these organisations and therefore had a defining importance for the leaderships position within the Friendship Association.Another conclusion is that Maoism in Sweden did not disappear from the political arena foremost, as some debaters and historians have alleged, because of the end of left wing radicalization during the late seventies, or even as a reaction towards the by this time more obviously complicated Chinese politics.Instead, the Friendship Association had for years invested in their trust in the Chinese leadership, and in the reciprocal but not necessarily equal exchange of favours, services and information. This trust, loyalty and conviction left the leading Swedish Maoist organisations and also the Friendship Association outside of the left wing socialist field in the late 1970s, and one can indeed also argue that the Maoists, and the Friendship Association actively stepped out of this arena as a part of their loyalty towards China.When they disappeared from the field of left wing politics a considerable part of this field to the left of the traditional worker's movement also disappeared.Because of the alignment with the Chinese policy – which involved creating the greatest possible goodwill for China within the Swedish establishment and also an alignment to the Chinese doctrine on the supposedly imminent World War III - the Maoists and the friends of China voluntarily excluded themselves from the Left Wing arena. Because of the increased traveling to China during this period, the Friendship Association continued to function, albeit not as a activist organization. The KFML/Skp however, was by this time, in a state of decline.
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| 4. |
- Eliasson, Ulf, 1965-
(författare)
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Övervakning i försvarets intresse : Säkerhetspolisens övervakning och registrering av ytterlighetspartier 1917-1945
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is focusing on two key questions. 1. Why and to what extent did the Swedish security service monitor and register sympathizers of the extremist political parties at the end of World War I and in the subsequent inter-war period? 2. To what extent did the Swedish government - by means of inspection, observation and management - control the surveillance and registration of the extremist political parties by the security service in 1917-1945? The study compares the development in Sweden with a trajectory of development that is formulated in the literature from observations mainly in Canada and Australia. The characteristics of this trajectory are that security agencies in the 20thcentury were autonomous in their relation with the government and expansionist in terms of their surveillance activities. This dissertation comes to two key conclusions. The first is that the surveillance and registration of Communists during the inter-war period intensified in 1930 when the military’s perception of the communist threat shifted. In 1928 the Communist movement formulated a new tactic of infiltrating the armed forces; in consequence the military introduced loyalty tests of its personnel (security vetting). The second conclusion is that the military’s and, in the winter of 1939, the government’s expansionist view of the need for surveillance and registration of the extremist political parties stands in sharp contrast to the restrictive view on this issue that was formulated by the security service. Partly as a result of this attitude of the security service, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Social Affairs controlled the Swedish security service during World War II. I argue that the Swedish security service was restrictive rather than expansionist in its view of the surveillance and registration of the political extremist parties in 1917-1945. I also make the case that its relationship with the government on issues related to these activities was characterized by control rather than by autonomy.
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| 5. |
- Hjort, Magnus, 1965-
(författare)
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"Nationens livsfråga" : Propaganda och upplysning i försvarets tjänst 1944-1963
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The subject of this thesis is the problem of autonomy versus control in the field of defence propaganda and defence information. The study has its foundation in two classical problems of democratic theory: the issue of political control over bureaucracies and the question of the involvement of non-governmental organizations in public administration. I argue that these two problems of modern democracy can be seen as one, the problem of autonomy versus control. In my thesis I analyse this problem within the framework of the tension between the armed forces, the government and the non-governmental organizations in the field of military information between 1944 and 1963. In the book I use the terms defence information and defence propaganda synonymously, meaning information distributed with the intent to influence attitudes and actions of individuals and/or organizations. This book focuses on four aspects of the problem of autonomy versus control. The first aspect deals with propaganda coming from the supreme commander and the defence staff. What methods were used? With which other groups did they collaborate? Can we see any change over the course of time? Aspect number two focuses on government control over defence information. What means of control did the government use? When was it used and how? The third aspect concerns non-governmental organizations in the field of defence. How did they interact with the government and with the defence staff and the supreme commander? The final aspect deals with government control over non-governmental organizations as well as control exercised by the military authorities over non-governmental organizations. What means of control was employed, at what times, and how? The analysis of these aspects is undertaken in five case studies.The study shows that the problem of autonomy versus control was evident from 1944 to 1963. I also argue that the supreme commander and the defence staff acted as a military interest group with close ties to the conservative daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, to business elites and to the Conservative Party. In the 1940’s and 1950’s the government used various informal methods to try to control the military propaganda. In 1960 this changed and the government turned to more formal ways of control such as introducing new regulations concerning military information.
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