Spindeln i nätet

This qualitative study examines the organisation and risk-management practices of the Northern Civil Area and its County Administrative Boards. After a prolonged latent period, Sweden resumed its work on total defence in 2015, requiring authorities to adapt to new forms of security challenges including hybrid threats that blur the boundary between peace and conflict. A major administrative reform in 2022 further transformed the landscape by introducing civil areas, including the Northern Civil Area, which reshaped coordination structures and responsibilities. Limited prior research on these developments underscores the need for studies that investigate how County Administrative Boards organise and operationalise collaboration in practice, particularly when confronted with contemporary hybrid threats. The study explores how principles of network governance are applied in the organisation and collaborative practices of the County Administrative Boards within the Northern Civil Area, and additionally examines the extent to which Risk Management Theory can account for their strategies to identify, assess, and manage hybrid threats in peacetime. Adopting a deductive research design, the thesis draws on Governance Network Theory and Risk Management Theory, which are operationalised into analytical indicators used to examine transcribed interviews with County Administrative Board officials and each county’s risk and vulnerability analysis. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how civil defence is structured and enacted in northern Sweden, as well as how hybrid threats are interpreted and handled within the contemporary total-defence framework.