Samstämmighet eller kommunikationsmiss? : en studie av svensk militär anpassning kring millennieskiftet

During the period 1990–2013 the Swedish Armed Forces made a number of organisational and material changes. This raises the question of whether these changes also led to tactical adaptations, and if so, if there is a correlation between those adopted in higher and lower levels of field manuals. The purpose of this thesis is to study adaptations in field manuals of Swedish army tactics during 1990–2013. The study also aims to investigate the level of correlation between lower and higher level field manuals. Marcus’ and Farrell’s research on military adaptation and bottom-up change sets the thesis’s theoretical framework. The method used includes a comparative and qualitative text analysis. The study’s result indicates that adaptations in Swedish field manuals show a tendency to decrease the role of artillery support, and increase the role of offensive operations. The results also show a correlation between adaptations made in higher and lower levels of field manuals. The results cannot establish a causal link between the adaptations identified and Marcus’ and Farrell’s research, they do however correlate with their theories. This thesis recommends further studies of the reasons behind the adaptations regarding the use of artillery, as well as the reasons behind the adaptations identified.