Description
In the current geopolitical context, with increasingly unstable great-power relations and threats to the rules-based liberal order, volatile U.S. foreign policy, and Russia’s war in Ukraine, European countries are scaling up their defences. In this endeavour, many are looking to the ‘Nordic model’ of total defence. Although the ‘Nordic model’ is often used in the context of peacekeeping, it has become increasingly associated with preparedness and defence policies. Since the end of the Second World War, across the Nordics, a strong defence has been synonymous with the involvement of civilians in preparedness for crisis and war. As such, civil and military defence have been deeply intertwined across the Nordics. In this panel, we gather papers that discuss narratives of wars and crises, and preparedness for such events in both military and civil defence terms, in the Nordics and beyond. How are the coming crises envisioned? Who is responsible for defence? How are Nordic histories of preparedness engaged in contemporary policy? How is civilian preparedness enmeshed in total defence strategies?
