Exploring State-Defence Industry Relations in Swedish Defence Policy, 2009–2022

The return to geopolitics in the formulation and execution of defence policy brings with it a need for the study of state-defence industry relations (SDIR) and insights into how governments prioritize when engaging with the defence industry. This article seeks to develop understanding of how the state assesses SDIR. Presenting a case study of the Swedish government’s changing priorities in its engagement with the defence industry as it implements national defence policy, this article addresses recent calls for public policy and administration theory to be incorporated into the field of defence studies. The study employs qualitative content analysis of official documents and interviews with defence industry representatives. A theoretical framework based on Hood’s politico-administrative values is used to derive values from the data and to make sense of government policy. The study concludes that the Swedish government has prioritized frugality, fairness, and security differently over time. Of these values, fairness is most consistently addressed. The field of defence policy, we find, is a field like many others where traditional administrative principles apply; it is not a unique policy field ruled by politics of exception. Showing that armed forces, superiors and subordinates, follow traditional administrative modes of working and public values, the findings are important for theory and practice alike.