Total defence was a cornerstone of Sweden’s defence policy during the Cold War, and conscription formed a key pillar of this strategy. Military service was mandatory for men, and the principle of placing ‘the right man in the right place’ required extensive efforts to assess individual suitability for various roles. At the Swedish Defence Research Establishment [Försvarets forskningsanstalt] (FOA), and particularly within its division for human sciences, sports research was employed in the 1970s to inform debates on recruitment by evaluating the physical capacities of women and men over the age of 47. These studies demonstrated that older men retained physical abilities longer than previously assumed and that women met established military standards, thereby revealing untapped potential within the population. Sports research was thus reframed as a strategic resource for national defence, illustrating its adaptability and political significance beyond civilian sport and training, serving as a tool for advancing military capability and realizing defence objectives.

In several parts of Sweden, difficulties arise regarding access to water. In this article, I explore the biopoliticsthat take shape when low groundwater levels are turned into an object of government. Firstly, I examinethe formation of a so-called anatomical politics which refers to a disciplining form of power in which theresponsibilities and actions of the population are at the center. Secondly, I explore the priorities that are madein the political work where human life, health, and well-being are to be protected and other life forms that arenot vital for human living are instead deprioritized or allowed to die. The problems have clear consequencesbut do not pose a threat to human survival. Political efforts aim to bring about changes in people’s everydaylives and affect the use and decoration of households and public spaces. Empirically, I attach particularsignificance to the irrigation bans that Swedish municipalities can introduce to reduce water consumption.

In the Cold War, Sweden’s total defence extended to all parts of society. Preparations for war were a normal part of daily life. Military history has received more attention in historical research, but Sweden’s civil defence has recently attracted increasing interest. This article sheds new light on the knowledge supply and political governance of the total defence. We focus on Swedish food security and preparedness (livsmedelsberedskap), which was part of the economic defences that fell under the country’s civil defence system. We examine governmental investigations into the changes in Swedish agricultural production deemed necessary to reach the Swedish government’s planned level of preparedness. Two forms of what we term ”life politics” are charted in the studies commissioned or carried out by the Swedish Board of Agriculture in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We examine how these investigations made possible political interventions targeting the human population as well as the life of plants and the cultivated land. We provide new perspectives on Sweden’s civil defence by studying the significance of nonhuman life forms to Swedish public preparedness, which have received significantly less attention from historians than the human population and the development of, for example, new defence technologies and weapon systems. 

Det här kapitlet vägleds av ett intresse för hur humanistisk kunskap hargjorts användbar i det svenska försvaret i förhållande till informationsteknologiskalandvinningar och nya former av så kallad informationspåverkanunder slutet av 1900-talet. Informationspåverkan avser kort sagtanvändningen av (vilseledande) information i syfte att påverka den allmännaopinionen, demokratiska processer och det politiska beslutsfattandet. Målet med kapitlet är att bidra till en bättre förståelse av denbetydelse som humanistisk kunskap har haft i det svenska försvaret ochdärmed den svenska staten under slutet av 1900-talet. Jag studerar kunskapsom vanligen knyts till utbildningen och forskningen inom humanioraoch humanistiska fakulteter vid universitet och högskolor. Det handlarsärskilt om filosofisk kunskap om bedömningen eller värderingen av argumentoch utsagor i text samt källkritik. Källkritiken utvecklades ursprungligenav historiker under 1800-talet och har som vetenskaplig metod haftett stort inflytande på historievetenskapen i de nordiska länderna, kanskesärskilt i Sverige.

Biopolitical preparedness: The impact of the behavioralscience research of the Swedish National Defense ResearchEstablishment (FOA) on Swedish crisis preparedness

During the post-war period, major research investments were made to improvemilitary and defense capabilities both in Sweden and abroad. Muchremains undone as to exploring the impact of the Swedish National DefenseResearch Establishment (FOA) on Swedish state and society. Historians haveprimarily explored the development and impact of technological and naturalscience research and its connections with e.g. the military industry. Thisarticle provides new insights into the societal and political significance ofSwedish defense research by studying the human sciences at FOA. At thesame time, new insights are gained on the knowledge provision in Swedishpreparedness efforts. The aim of the article is to provide new knowledgeabout the influence of Swedish defense research on the Swedish civil defenseand crisis preparedness in the late 20th century. The purpose of the article isto explore the significance of behavioral science research at the Departmentof Human Sciences (FOA 5) in relation to a process at the end of the ColdWar in which crisis and preparedness were framed as problems pertainingto population behavior and risk awareness. The analysis is inspired bythe theory and research on biopolitics, originating in the works of MichelFoucault. I examine the influence of FOA’s behavioral science research inrelation to what I call “biopolitical preparedness,” which refers to an assemblageof research or knowledge about human life, health and behavior, andpolitical governance. Empirically, the article explores Swedish governmentalcommissions (statens offentliga utredningar) and FOA reports.

This chapter explores knowledge associated with the humanities that hasbeen developed in practice-oriented research domains of the Swedishgovernment to help solve societal challenges. I study the Swedish NationalDefense Research Establishment [Försvarets forskningsanstalt] (FOA). Theconcept of “borderline humanities” refers to research activities that didnot abide by academic distinctions between the humanities, the socialsciences, and the natural sciences. The study shows how knowledge onhuman culture, history, language, and beliefs developed in a researchenvironment that drew on diverse fields of both research and practice.The chapter brings to the fore shared themes and concepts betweendifferent research fields and draws attention to how this affects the viewof research impact.

Throughout the Cold War, there was an extensive production of ideas and knowledge around radioactivity as a social hazard. Previous research shows that there is a lack of knowledge about the relationship between the preparedness against nuclear weapons that was built up in Sweden from the 1950s onwards and the environmental commit-ment that took shape a few decades later. The aim of this article is to contribute new knowledge about these historical conditions by examining the radioactivity research conducted at the Swedish National Defence Research Establishment [Försvarets for-skningsanstalt] (FOA). The exploration is focusing on a period during the 1960s and 1970s when questions about radioactivity in relation to nuclear weapons, nuclear power and the environment had a clear impact in Sweden. Swedish preparedness is usually associated with efforts to protect the human population. I show how animals, plants and other non-human life also became objects in defence research and the preparedness against radioactivity that the scientific work at FOA enabled. FOA was a Swedish governmental agency that provided scientific advice to the Swedish Total Defence. FOA operated at the intersection of military and civil science. The article is concerned with FOA’s ambitions and expressed interests. The primary empirical material consists of FOA publications. I focus on how radioactivity research was presented in Foatidningen that was published by FOA between 1963 and 2000.