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Military Recruitment in the Age of “Globalization”: Perception Management, Circulation of Non-Knowledge and the De-Politicization of the Swedish Armed Forces

Ekblad, Ingemar LU (2012) SIMV07 20121
Graduate School
Abstract
This thesis investigates what the abolishment of the National Military Service (July 2010) meant for the content of what, and the manner in which, the Swedish Armed Forces communicates to the Swedish public. The main theoretical and methodological approach of the thesis lies within discourse analysis. Additionally, theories of globalization and perception management (propaganda) are used to analyze the result of the discourse analysis. The empirics used are two types of “texts” – military doctrinal texts and commercial texts (used for marketing or branding The Swedish Armed Forces) – which originates either from the Swedish Armed Forces or the Swedish Government. It is demonstrated that there exists grave discontinuities between what is... (More)
This thesis investigates what the abolishment of the National Military Service (July 2010) meant for the content of what, and the manner in which, the Swedish Armed Forces communicates to the Swedish public. The main theoretical and methodological approach of the thesis lies within discourse analysis. Additionally, theories of globalization and perception management (propaganda) are used to analyze the result of the discourse analysis. The empirics used are two types of “texts” – military doctrinal texts and commercial texts (used for marketing or branding The Swedish Armed Forces) – which originates either from the Swedish Armed Forces or the Swedish Government. It is demonstrated that there exists grave discontinuities between what is communicated in the two types of “texts”. It is also shown that the Swedish Armed Forces uses various perception management techniques in attempts to steer the public’s understanding of their organization. It is concluded that the Swedish Armed Forces understanding of the “globalized” post-Cold War world meant that, in order to reach their targeted defense ability, they thought it necessary to misinform the Swedish public about their mission, values and political considerations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ekblad, Ingemar LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMV07 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Swedish Armed Forces, Propaganda, Globalization, Perception management, Military recruitment
language
English
id
2714418
date added to LUP
2012-06-14 16:19:40
date last changed
2012-06-14 16:19:40
@misc{2714418,
  abstract     = {{This thesis investigates what the abolishment of the National Military Service (July 2010) meant for the content of what, and the manner in which, the Swedish Armed Forces communicates to the Swedish public. The main theoretical and methodological approach of the thesis lies within discourse analysis. Additionally, theories of globalization and perception management (propaganda) are used to analyze the result of the discourse analysis. The empirics used are two types of “texts” – military doctrinal texts and commercial texts (used for marketing or branding The Swedish Armed Forces) – which originates either from the Swedish Armed Forces or the Swedish Government. It is demonstrated that there exists grave discontinuities between what is communicated in the two types of “texts”. It is also shown that the Swedish Armed Forces uses various perception management techniques in attempts to steer the public’s understanding of their organization. It is concluded that the Swedish Armed Forces understanding of the “globalized” post-Cold War world meant that, in order to reach their targeted defense ability, they thought it necessary to misinform the Swedish public about their mission, values and political considerations.}},
  author       = {{Ekblad, Ingemar}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Military Recruitment in the Age of “Globalization”: Perception Management, Circulation of Non-Knowledge and the De-Politicization of the Swedish Armed Forces}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}