Joakim Berndtsson
Biographic Data
| ID | 246071 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joakim Berndtsson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joakim |
| FAMILY NAME | Berndtsson |
| SIGNATURE | BERNDTSSON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gothenburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1352-1158 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 142 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The politics of the market and the return of Swedish total defence
In 2015, the Swedish government resumed a coordinated ‘total defence’ planning. While such changes have been much analysed, the establishment of a ‘market’ for total defence remains underexamined. Drawing on an institutional approach and focusing on the market as a strategic action field, we examine defence markets as politics to better understand recent transformations of Swedish defence. We deductively and thematically compare two moments of tr…
Bringing society (back) in? Defence transformations across Europe in the Zeitenwende
Branding ‘progressive’ security
Contemporary research on so-called Nordic branding has provided crucial insights into the social power of states and how various actors use and circulate ‘progressive’ nation brand tropes for political and commercial goals. Hitherto, the literature on Nordic branding has focused on a wide range of substantive issues, among other things, human rights, gender equality, social welfare and foreign aid, but considerably less attention has been paid to…
EU border externalisation and security outsourcing
This article examines the emergence of a ‘migration industry’ as a result of European border externalisation and security outsourcing practices to curb migration flows from Libya. It argues that the management of migration has been partly delegated to a network of interlinked private and public actors which constitute a complex migration governance structure that ultimately gives rise to issues of transparency and accountability. Informed by theo…
Sweden and the issue of Nato membership
The past decade has seen substantial shifts in Swedish security policy and major change in the domestic debate about NATO. For the first time, all of the right-of-centre “alliance parties” are calling for a full NATO membership, and popular support for NATO has increased. Yet public opinion contains ambiguities and paradoxes that complicate the picture. At the same time as support for NATO has increased, the public is overwhelmingly for continued…
Truth, Sources, and the Fog of War
Teaching and learning about war is inherently difficult. Both students and teachers experience varying levels of frustration and unease when confronted with accounts of violence and death. Yet most
"Recruiting the "enterprising soldier
This article analyses the recruitment discourses of the Swedish and British armies through a lens of governmentality. The aim of the article is to contribute to our understanding of the ways in which military recruitment discourses in neo-liberal democracies of the global North are articulated, and how they help produce certain subjectivities. The empirical material includes official documents, manuals, and recruitment material, but also intervie…
Swedish and British Public Opinion of the Armed Forces after a Decade of War
This article analyzes public opinion of the armed forces, focusing on Sweden and the United Kingdom. The cases offer interesting similarities, such as their institutions of parliamentary monarchies and, most recently, their reliance on all-volunteer force, as well as differences especially with regard to their experience of international defence missions. The discussion considers the extent to which the public has been supportive of recent missio…
Principles on a collision course? State sovereignty meets peoples' right of self-determination in the case of Kosovo
Sovereignty and self-determination are central features of international relations and international law. The concepts are often depicted as conflicting and incompatible. In addition, the meaning, application and relevance of both concepts continue to form the subject of debate. In practice, they remain important, fiercely protected and centrally placed in conflicts concerning territorial integrity or political status. In this paper, we argue tha…
Realizing the "market-state"? Military transformation and security outsourcing in Sweden
Over the past few years, Sweden has markedly shifted its position on private military and security companies (PMSCs), from widespread reluctance and general suspicion to increasing acceptance and normalization, along with a gradual institutionalization of the use of PMSCs by Swedish state agencies. On the one hand, this development is part of the broader trend of security commercialization in Europe and globally. On the other hand, it is both sha…
Elke Krahmann, States, Citizens and the Privatization of Security
The privatization of security—that is, the increasing use of commercial companies to provide security- and military-related services conventionally perceived to belong to the domain of states—has a
Exploring PSC–military relations
The increasing reliance on private security companies (PSCs) in and around international peace operations has created new public–private constellations, influencing both military and civilian efforts, sometimes generating problematic relationships and even violence between public and private actors, as well as unclear divisions of labour, authority and responsibility. To explain how and why these problems occur, mapping out the understandings tha…
Security Professionals for Hire
Private security companies (PSCs) do not merely provide protective services; they also sell specific understandings of the world and of security problems. Promoting their services, PSCs project images of professional security expertise. This article contributes to our knowledge of commercial security experts by analysing the ways in which images of expertise are constructed, focusing on the contracting of a PSC in 2008 by the Swedish Ministry for…
Private Security and the Public-Private Divide
The increasing privatization of security and the changing patterns of security governance call into question the foundational lines of demarcation between the “public” and “private.” This article investigates how key actors in the security assemblage at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport make sense of their roles in relation to public–private distinctions. While central to the ways in which security actors understand themselves and each other, closer insp…
"Recruiting the "enterprising soldier
This article analyses the recruitment discourses of the Swedish and British armies through a lens of governmentality. The aim of the article is to contribute to our understanding of the ways in which military recruitment discourses in neo-liberal democracies of the global North are articulated, and how they help produce certain subjectivities. The empirical material includes official documents, manuals, and recruitment material, but also intervie…
EU border externalisation and security outsourcing
This article examines the emergence of a ‘migration industry’ as a result of European border externalisation and security outsourcing practices to curb migration flows from Libya. It argues that the management of migration has been partly delegated to a network of interlinked private and public actors which constitute a complex migration governance structure that ultimately gives rise to issues of transparency and accountability. Informed by theo…
Security Professionals for Hire
Private security companies (PSCs) do not merely provide protective services; they also sell specific understandings of the world and of security problems. Promoting their services, PSCs project images of professional security expertise. This article contributes to our knowledge of commercial security experts by analysing the ways in which images of expertise are constructed, focusing on the contracting of a PSC in 2008 by the Swedish Ministry for…
Private Security and the Public-Private Divide
The increasing privatization of security and the changing patterns of security governance call into question the foundational lines of demarcation between the “public” and “private.” This article investigates how key actors in the security assemblage at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport make sense of their roles in relation to public–private distinctions. While central to the ways in which security actors understand themselves and each other, closer insp…
Swedish and British Public Opinion of the Armed Forces after a Decade of War
This article analyzes public opinion of the armed forces, focusing on Sweden and the United Kingdom. The cases offer interesting similarities, such as their institutions of parliamentary monarchies and, most recently, their reliance on all-volunteer force, as well as differences especially with regard to their experience of international defence missions. The discussion considers the extent to which the public has been supportive of recent missio…
Sweden and the issue of Nato membership
The past decade has seen substantial shifts in Swedish security policy and major change in the domestic debate about NATO. For the first time, all of the right-of-centre “alliance parties” are calling for a full NATO membership, and popular support for NATO has increased. Yet public opinion contains ambiguities and paradoxes that complicate the picture. At the same time as support for NATO has increased, the public is overwhelmingly for continued…
Realizing the "market-state"? Military transformation and security outsourcing in Sweden
Over the past few years, Sweden has markedly shifted its position on private military and security companies (PMSCs), from widespread reluctance and general suspicion to increasing acceptance and normalization, along with a gradual institutionalization of the use of PMSCs by Swedish state agencies. On the one hand, this development is part of the broader trend of security commercialization in Europe and globally. On the other hand, it is both sha…
Branding ‘progressive’ security
Contemporary research on so-called Nordic branding has provided crucial insights into the social power of states and how various actors use and circulate ‘progressive’ nation brand tropes for political and commercial goals. Hitherto, the literature on Nordic branding has focused on a wide range of substantive issues, among other things, human rights, gender equality, social welfare and foreign aid, but considerably less attention has been paid to…
Exploring PSC–military relations
The increasing reliance on private security companies (PSCs) in and around international peace operations has created new public–private constellations, influencing both military and civilian efforts, sometimes generating problematic relationships and even violence between public and private actors, as well as unclear divisions of labour, authority and responsibility. To explain how and why these problems occur, mapping out the understandings tha…
Security Professionals for Hire
Private security companies (PSCs) do not merely provide protective services; they also sell specific understandings of the world and of security problems. Promoting their services, PSCs project images of professional security expertise. This article contributes to our knowledge of commercial security experts by analysing the ways in which images of expertise are constructed, focusing on the contracting of a PSC in 2008 by the Swedish Ministry for…
Private Security and the Public-Private Divide
The increasing privatization of security and the changing patterns of security governance call into question the foundational lines of demarcation between the “public” and “private.” This article investigates how key actors in the security assemblage at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport make sense of their roles in relation to public–private distinctions. While central to the ways in which security actors understand themselves and each other, closer insp…
Elke Krahmann, States, Citizens and the Privatization of Security
The privatization of security—that is, the increasing use of commercial companies to provide security- and military-related services conventionally perceived to belong to the domain of states—has a
Exploring PSC–military relations
The increasing reliance on private security companies (PSCs) in and around international peace operations has created new public–private constellations, influencing both military and civilian efforts, sometimes generating problematic relationships and even violence between public and private actors, as well as unclear divisions of labour, authority and responsibility. To explain how and why these problems occur, mapping out the understandings tha…
Principles on a collision course? State sovereignty meets peoples' right of self-determination in the case of Kosovo
Sovereignty and self-determination are central features of international relations and international law. The concepts are often depicted as conflicting and incompatible. In addition, the meaning, application and relevance of both concepts continue to form the subject of debate. In practice, they remain important, fiercely protected and centrally placed in conflicts concerning territorial integrity or political status. In this paper, we argue tha…
Realizing the "market-state"? Military transformation and security outsourcing in Sweden
Over the past few years, Sweden has markedly shifted its position on private military and security companies (PMSCs), from widespread reluctance and general suspicion to increasing acceptance and normalization, along with a gradual institutionalization of the use of PMSCs by Swedish state agencies. On the one hand, this development is part of the broader trend of security commercialization in Europe and globally. On the other hand, it is both sha…
"Recruiting the "enterprising soldier
This article analyses the recruitment discourses of the Swedish and British armies through a lens of governmentality. The aim of the article is to contribute to our understanding of the ways in which military recruitment discourses in neo-liberal democracies of the global North are articulated, and how they help produce certain subjectivities. The empirical material includes official documents, manuals, and recruitment material, but also intervie…
Swedish and British Public Opinion of the Armed Forces after a Decade of War
This article analyzes public opinion of the armed forces, focusing on Sweden and the United Kingdom. The cases offer interesting similarities, such as their institutions of parliamentary monarchies and, most recently, their reliance on all-volunteer force, as well as differences especially with regard to their experience of international defence missions. The discussion considers the extent to which the public has been supportive of recent missio…
Truth, Sources, and the Fog of War
Teaching and learning about war is inherently difficult. Both students and teachers experience varying levels of frustration and unease when confronted with accounts of violence and death. Yet most
Sweden and the issue of Nato membership
The past decade has seen substantial shifts in Swedish security policy and major change in the domestic debate about NATO. For the first time, all of the right-of-centre “alliance parties” are calling for a full NATO membership, and popular support for NATO has increased. Yet public opinion contains ambiguities and paradoxes that complicate the picture. At the same time as support for NATO has increased, the public is overwhelmingly for continued…
EU border externalisation and security outsourcing
This article examines the emergence of a ‘migration industry’ as a result of European border externalisation and security outsourcing practices to curb migration flows from Libya. It argues that the management of migration has been partly delegated to a network of interlinked private and public actors which constitute a complex migration governance structure that ultimately gives rise to issues of transparency and accountability. Informed by theo…
Branding ‘progressive’ security
Contemporary research on so-called Nordic branding has provided crucial insights into the social power of states and how various actors use and circulate ‘progressive’ nation brand tropes for political and commercial goals. Hitherto, the literature on Nordic branding has focused on a wide range of substantive issues, among other things, human rights, gender equality, social welfare and foreign aid, but considerably less attention has been paid to…
The politics of the market and the return of Swedish total defence
In 2015, the Swedish government resumed a coordinated ‘total defence’ planning. While such changes have been much analysed, the establishment of a ‘market’ for total defence remains underexamined. Drawing on an institutional approach and focusing on the market as a strategic action field, we examine defence markets as politics to better understand recent transformations of Swedish defence. We deductively and thematically compare two moments of tr…
Bringing society (back) in? Defence transformations across Europe in the Zeitenwende
Political science (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Gender, Security, and Conflict (6 works) · Public Administration (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies (4 works)