Swedish Defence University

Background War causes severe suffering and harm to the civilian population. Knowledge about civilian injury patterns constitutes a part of the dimensioned planning and preparedness for medical care and civilian defence in times of war. This systematic review is conducted on request from The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and includes civilian injury patterns in modern war. Methods The aim of the study is to describe civilian injury patterns in war 1973–2023. We have conducted a systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The protocol has been registered 2023-05-06 in PROSPERO (CRD4202321483). Results The search resulted in 3455 identified articles. 1226 of those were duplicates. 2229 studies were assessed, and 1817 papers were excluded. 412 papers went through full text assessment resulting in 63 remaining papers. Injuries to the extremities constitutes 50%, followed by head injuries (26%) and injuries to the chest (18%). Notably, 23% of the wounded are children. Discussion There is no standardized classification or method to report and describe civilian war injuries and the injury panorama. Variations in how the injuries were reported made synthesis of the results difficult. In the present survey we haven’t investigated mortalities and causes of death. Reliable data from recent wars, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine and Gaza, was missing from the open literature. Conclusions The distribution of injuries seems comparable with data from World War II and the conflict in Korea. There is no standardized simple protocol to report civilian injuries in war. Ideally, a protocol should include even the severity impact of the injuries. Knowledge of civilian injury pattern and estimate of the total number of wounded is important to plan the civilian health care capabilities in war time.

In the 1710s, under pressure from an ongoing war, Sweden’s absolute king, Charles XII, implemented a number of fiscal and monetary measures that displayed a disdain for traditional privileges and carried a potential for social change. Taxation was made progressive and credit became more important to finance the war. Liquidity was radically expanded, most significantly by the release of very large amounts of fiat coins. Following the death of Charles XII in November 1718, there was a political reaction against the war policies and the fiscal and monetary measures were reversed, resulting in the dismantling of royal absolutism and a partial government default. This study consists of two parts. In the first, we investigate the impact of the war policy and the monetary measures of Charles XII’s regime on the social redistribution of resources in Swedish society, especially in the years 1715 to 1718. In the second, we focus on how the socioeconomic changes were addressed by political agents between the death of Charles XII and the default of 1719. Our results show that the fiat money permeated the economy and reached all social groups, and that in some locations its distribution upset the prevailing social order. Peasants and other low-ranking groups were targeted by the partial default, which largely deprived them of their monetary assets.

This article explains why self-identified great powers seek to provide a ‘sphere of influence meaning’ to geographical space when such narratives have the potential to insult the smaller actors in the space over which such powers seek exclusive influence. The article draws and expands on the ‘physical turn’ in ontological security studies by introducing the notion of a ‘geographical here’ as key to a great power that perceives its status as threatened. The argument is illustrated through a comparative analysis of three US presidential administrations. The article analyses (i) how the US’ status is perceived and narrated, and (ii) what meaning officials assign to the ‘geographical here’.

Based on in-depth interviews with female cadets, this article explores what it is like to be a young military woman in the 2020s. Focusing on the Swedish Armed Forces this study takes its point of departure in minority group processes examined from a gender perspective. How do young military women navigate challenges specific to their gendered positionalities, and to what extent are coping strategies needed in this male-dominated environment? The article concludes that despite an increased focus on gender equality and a more welcoming attitude to military women, persistent norms of masculinity remain challenging for women in military settings. At the same time, young military women may have found new ways of navigating the burden of visibility that women in minority often struggle with. For example, while gendered performance pressure remains a reality, strategies of disassociating oneself from other women, in line with previous theorising, do not appear to be a dominant coping strategy. This generation of women entered the military under different circumstances than those who paved the way. The reassurance of being strategically prioritised may have inspired new ways of navigating a fear of visibility, in contrast with previous generations who often rejected the idea of female networks within the organisation. Young military women of today might therefore be more inclined to fight structural challenges. Given the gendered challenges military women still face, it remains to be seen whether these forms of gendered empowerment will be enough to retain them.

In the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and under the growing threat of planetary cataclysm, an array of prominent intellectuals grappled with the significance of nuclear war for the human condition and reflected upon the possibilities of escaping its peril. Following on the early interventions of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, the collected thoughts of Karl Jaspers, Hans Morgenthau, and Günther Anders outline a philosophical current of ‘nuclear existentialism’ preoccupied with the nihilistic ‘being-towards-species-death’ entailed by the advent of the Bomb. Faced with the apparent negation of reason in bringing about the means of its own destruction through the scientific piercing of nature’s innermost workings, the nuclear existentialists end up reaffirming, however precariously, a teleological conception of history in which the apocalyptic fear of the Bomb figures as the necessary condition for the ultimate realisation of human freedom. In the light of the contemporary resurgence of nuclear anxiety, this article surveys and critically assesses the corpus of nuclear existentialism, drawing upon the distinctive existential phenomenology of Emmanuel Levinas to trace a potential alternative for thinking life and death under the Bomb.

This article examines the extent to which or how self-identified great powers resort to military aggression following events that challenge their sense of greatness. It problematises the prevalent notion that great powers and events exist and have effects independently of the narratives that constitute them. The article does this by engaging with Ontological Security Studies, Great Power Narcissism, and the psychology of vulnerable and grandiose narcissism, as well as by analysing Japanese identity narratives in two periods seemingly marked by equally challenging events – the Meiji era (1868–1912) and the post-war period (1950–71). It finds that Japan’s military aggression against China in 1894–5 was enabled by vulnerable narratives of shame and insult, while the decision to wage war with Russia a decade later was facilitated more by grandiose narratives. Despite Japan’s overwhelming defeat in the Second World War and the persistent desire among conservative elites for great power status and identity, however, overall post-war narratives did not feature similarly negative emotions and calls for revenge. Japanese great power aspirations were arguably curtailed in this period through intense narrative contestation, notably progressive counter-narratives featuring more self-reflective expressions of guilt and remorse, and even the self-reflexive desire for a non -great power identity.

Whether there are differences between the drivers of great power foreign policy and the drivers of small state foreign policy has been the subject of debate for many years. This article contributes to this debate, by showing that the foreign policies of one great power, the United States, and one small state, Sweden, regarding the humanitarian military intervention in Libya in 2011 can be explained by the same combination of factors. Although key decision-makers in both states formulated their preferences on the basis of similar circumstances, the United States, as a great power, could shape these circumstances to a greater extent and was less constrained by the situation, compared to Sweden.

Dans les années 1710, sous la pression d’une guerre en cours, Charles XII, le roi absolu de Suède, met en oeuvre une série de mesures fiscales et monétaires qui remettent en question les privilèges traditionnels et impliquent de profondes transformations sociales. La fiscalité est rendue progressive et le crédit de plus en plus important afin de financer la guerre. Les liquidités sont radicalement augmentées, notamment au moyen de la mise en circulation d’une grande quantité de pièces de monnaie fiduciaire. La mort de Charles XII, en novembre 1718, entraîne une réaction hostile à ses politiques militaires. Les mesures fiscales et monétaires sont abolies, provoquant le renversement de l’absolutisme royal ainsi qu’une défaillance partielle de l’État. Cet article s’organise en deux parties. Dans la première, nous cherchons à vérifier l’hypothèse selon laquelle la politique militaire et les mesures monétaires du régime de Charles XII ont conduit à une redistribution des ressources dans la société suédoise, en particulier dans les années 1715-1718. Dans la seconde partie, nous analysons la façon dont les acteurs politiques suédois ont réagi à ces changements socio-économiques entre le décès de Charles XII et le défaut de paiement de 1719. Nos résultats montrent que la monnaie fiduciaire imprégna l’économie et atteint l’ensemble des groupes sociaux, allant même, dans certains endroits, jusqu’à en bouleverser les hiérarchies en vigueur. Les paysans, parmi d’autres groupes de rang inférieur, ont été particulièrement affectés par le défaut de paiement partiel, car ils ont été en grande partie privés de leurs actifs monétaires.

This study examines differences in leadership behaviors and in the perceived work environment between older and younger managers in a large Swedish mining company. The leadership behaviors and work environment of young managers in the mining industry will become more important in the future due to the changes taking place in the industry. Such changes include the older generation of managers reaching retirement age, while the industry generally finds it difficult to recruit a younger generation of employees. Moreover, rapid technology-centered transition, such as the green transition of the mining industry, is underway which may put young managers in particular under pressure. Meanwhile, research on young managers in the mining industry more broadly is sparse. Data for this study was mainly gathered via a questionnaire, complemented by data from interviews. The questionnaire included 48 validated self-rate questions on background variables, social and organizational working conditions, health, and leadership behavior. The survey was answered by 216 managers (response rate: 63%). Interviews were carried out with ten young managers (35 years or younger). The study found no statistically significant differences between younger and older managers with regards to workload, working hours, health, and work satisfaction. We found that older managers rate themselves higher, at a statistically significant level, for change-oriented leadership behaviors. However, when age is analyzed together with other variables that are significantly different between the two groups, only managerial experience and managerial positions show statistically significant associations with change-oriented and healthy and effective leadership behaviors. The interviews indicate that the young managers encounter challenges that are related to their experience and training, but few are related to their age. Given the influence of managerial experience on leadership behaviors, leadership training appears to be an important area of intervention, and conditions must be improved to enable change-oriented leadership among managers in the mining industry, with a greater focus on young managers.

Zusammenfassung Nach der Veröffentlichung der Leitlinien des Auswärtigen Amts 2023 ist die Debatte über feministische Außenpolitik schnell wieder ins Stocken geraten. Ein Grund dafür ist fortbestehende Unklarheit über die Kernelemente feministischer Politik. Dieser Beitrag ergänzt die in der Debatte vorherrschende liberale Perspektive durch eine poststrukturalistische. Dabei zeigt sich, dass eine konsequente feministische Außenpolitik ein deutlich radikaleres Umdenken erfordert als bisweilen angenommen.

Purpose: To identify factors that contribute to the enhanced life of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Sweden. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study combined workshops (n = 38) and survey data (n = 243) from people living with SCI and their relatives, health professionals, and personal care assistants working with people living with SCI. The data were first categorized using Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model, followed by a conventional content analysis. Results: The factors that contribute to an enhanced life for people living with SCI are similar to those of the general population, including relationships, leisure activities, and occupation within the mesosystem. However, the unique components of the exosystem and macrosystem are specifically associated with people living with SCI. The exosystem, particularly in healthcare, plays a major role for medical reasons but also tends to obtrude and minimize the mesosystem. The macrosystem is essential, as it sets the rules that govern the actors in the other layers, creating prerequisites for meeting the needs of the mesosystem and exosystem. Conclusions: The needs that contribute to an enhanced life are multifaceted and individualized. Therefore, these systems must be flexible throughout the lifespan of individuals with SCI.

Despite an increase in academic research over recent years into military veterans in the criminal justice system, little of this has focused on U.K. veterans’ views and attitudes toward authority in prison or how veterans respond to prison regime. This study used semistructured qualitative interviews with 35 ex-military prisoners to explore their views and attitudes toward the authority and legitimacy of the prison and to assess their behavior toward prison regime. It found that participants expressed positive attitudes toward authority and the legitimacy of the prison, reportedly influenced by previous military experiences. This was accompanied by an acceptance of one’s prison sentence and a generally high compliance with prison regime. Findings suggest that research participants’ previous military service may have lasting effects on how they engage with authority within the prison by providing resilience toward the effects of imprisonment. Possible areas of future research are also discussed.

Aim This paper aims to report on two modifications made to improve the measurement precision of the Ms. Olsen test. Specifically, three items were added to the Ms. Olsen test and an extended scoring was applied to some items. Design The competence assessment had a quantitative cross‐sectional design comprising of test results from 111 Registered Nurses in four municipalities in South‐Eastern Norway. Methods The Rasch model was applied to evaluate the measurement properties in four versions: the Ms. Olsen test with 19 items and the same with three added items, and the Ms. Olsen test with 19 items with an expanded scoring for the original and expanded version, respectively. Results The person separation indexes were improved from 0.50 to 0.62. Other measurement properties were not alternating between the four versions; all had shortcomings in terms of targeting (person measure means 3.02–3.87) and unidimensionality (% t ‐test >5% 9.01%–13.51%). Conclusion The clinical relevance and relatively short time spent on testing makes the Ms. Olsen test a reasonable choice and a step in the right direction for assessing competence as a means of targeting continuous professional development of nurses throughout their career. Nevertheless, depending on what kind of decisions are to be made, reliability might still be too low and further development is suggested. Public Contribution The initiative for the competence assessment came from nursing leaders in the four municipalities involved. The municipalities were represented in all stages of the research process through co‐author LS, that is, design, data collection, data analysis, writing of the manuscript as well as dissemination of the results to the four municipalities. Implications for Practice The Ms. Olsen test exemplifies a move towards objective assessments in nursing. Precise and reliable measurements are essential to support the ongoing professional development of nurses.