Seminar

Swedish Defence and Security Policy over 100 Years: 1925–2025

Start / Seminars / Swedish Defence and Security Policy over 100 Years: 1925–2025

The timing of the seminar was not chosen at random. In late spring 2025, it will be exactly one century since the Defence Act of 1925, which entailed significant disarmament. Since then, Sweden has experienced both periods of rearmament and renewed hopes for lasting peace.

Today, the issue of Sweden’s national security is more pressing than it has been in a long time. Russia’s aggressive behaviour, the prolonged period of weakened defence capability, and Sweden’s membership in NATO place new and significant demands on our country’s defence and security policy.

What strategic choices are most crucial for the future? What roles and partnerships will define Sweden’s position within NATO? What lessons can be drawn from our defence and security policy history? These were the central questions of this seminar, where the speakers contributed military, historical, diplomatic, and political perspectives.

Block I – History

Gunnar Åselius

Professor of Military History, Swedish Defence University

Jacob Westberg

Associate Professor of War Studies, Swedish Defence University

Hans Wallmark

Ambassador, Embassy of Sweden in Copenhagen

Block II – Present

Axel Wernhoff

Ambassador for Arctic Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Tobias Billström

Minister for Foreign Affairs, 2022–2024

Karlis Neretnieks

Major General, Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences

Block III – Future

Peter Haldén

Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in War Studies, Swedish Defence University

Oscar Jonsson

PhD in War Studies and Researcher, Swedish Defence University

PM Nilsson

CEO, Timbro