Bringing the People Back In? War Preparedness, Total Defence, and Public Opinion in Sweden and Beyond

Bringing the People Back In? War Preparedness, Total Defence, and Public Opinion in Sweden and Beyond

Bringing the People Back In? War Preparedness, Total Defence, and Public Opinion in Sweden and Beyond

Date

Friday October 3, 2025
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Location

Queen’s University, Robert Sutherland Hall Rm. 448 | Online via Zoom

Joakim Berndtsson

 

The past decade has seen the return of ‘whole-of-society’ approaches to national security. Drawing on research on Sweden and Scandinavia, this talk addresses a key question: what is the role of ‘the people’ in total defence, and is there public support for substantial and sometimes far-reaching changes to defence policy and practice?

 

 


Bio:

Joakim Berndtsson is a full professor at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and research fellow at the Swedish Centre for Studies of Armed Forces and Society (CSMS). He is currently a guest professor with the Canadian Defence and Security Network (CDSN-RCDS) at Carleton University. Berndtsson’s research interests include Swedish and Nordic total defence planning and organising, civilian-military collaboration, and public opinion on Swedish defence and security policy. .