A presentation of Folk och Försvar (Society and Defence)


Folk och Försvar, in English “Society and Defence”, is in terms of party politics and religion an independent association of democratic national organisations. Through their membership in Folk och Försvar they support an ongoing discussion, debate and education on matters concerning peace, freedom and democracy.


VISION

The vision of Folk och Försvar is to create insights into factors that influence peace, freedom and democracy. Our firm belief is that a plurality of views contributes to the development of policymaking. We therefore aim to be an open arena in which people with different opinions can engage in the development of defence and security policy.


HISTORY

In 1940 when the association of Folk och Försvar was initiated the task was set to "build a bridge between the society and the defence". At that time, with the beginning of the Second World War, there was an increased need of an understanding of defence policy. Folk och Försvar was established on the initiative of the Swedish political youth leagues.

There was, and still is, a need for a security policy forum, providing the possibility to discuss various issues among the representatives of the Swedish popular movements. The fall of the Berlin Wall with the following changes in Central and Eastern Europe, and the current threat of, among other factors, terrorism have increased the interest in security matters.


MISSION AND ORGANISATION

Folk och Försvar is an association of nearly 70 member organisations, including several defence organisations, political youth organisations, trade unions and representatives of Swedish business and trade federations.

Our goal is to:
- Generate insights in the area of military and societal security in Sweden, by the provision of objective information on security and defence policy decided by the Swedish Parliament and the Government.
- Promote the debate of security and defence policy by providing different arenas for an open discussion with a plurality of opinions.

We do this by:
- Arranging courses, seminars, conferences and study tours.
- Publishing informative publications and debates about defence, security and foreign policy.


ACTIVITIES

Rikskonferensen (the Annual National Conference)
Folk och Försvar’s Annual National Conference is the classic meeting-place for the security and defence policy community of Sweden. The Minister of Defence and the Minister of Foreign affairs are participating as speakers on a regular basis. The Swedish Prime Minister has also participated in the conference, as well as the King of Sweden. Held each year in January at a major winter resort in Sweden, the conference assembles 300 participants and 30-40 speakers for three days of lectures, discussions and debates, intertwined with socializing and skiing.

Discussion is encouraged to flow freely in the conference hall as well as in the lounges between parliamentarians, representatives from trade and industry, political parties, government authorities, youth organizations, women's associations, the Swedish church and various NGO’s. The debates are moderated by one of Sweden's most respected journalists, Mr Lars Adaktusson.

The conference receives extensive media coverage. The January 2010 Annual National Conference was covered by over 60 journalists and was broadcasted by the national Swedish television SVT as well as one of Sweden´s biggest television networks, TV4. The conference was referred to in more than 700 news articles, 160 blogs and on Twitter.

The conference was also broadcasted live via Society and Defence´s own website: www.folkochforsvar.se. During the three days of the conference, more than 10 000 viewers visited the site to specifically follow the program.

Introductory training in security policy: “Let´s rule a country!”
Folk och Försvar organizes an introductory training in security policy, in the form of a role-play exercise that aims to create an understanding of the mechanisms of international relations.  Over the course of a few hours, participants assume the role of government officials in various fictional countries. Each country is economically, politically and culturally different, and they all face their own sets of policy challenges. With less-than-perfect information and a shortness of time, the participants are expected to take decisions that in turn will affect the flow of events during the exercise. After the scenario is done, the training instructor evaluates the exercise together with the participants, drawing parallels to actual international crises and events.

This introductory training, which is generally highly appreciated by participants, is mainly aimed towards high school students, youth politicians, journalists and persons studying to be teachers of social and political sciences. During 2009 we performed 417 training sessions all over Sweden with more than 10.000 participants.

Seminars and Panel Discussions
Each year, Folk och Försvar arranges several seminars and panel discussions on different topics. The seminars include topics such as ‘Threats and Security in a Globalizing World’, ‘The Vatican in World Politics’ and ‘A Larger Role for Sweden in International Operations?’ These seminars are aimed primarily towards students, youth politicians and members of the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament), but also towards the general public.

Study Tours
Each year at least one study tour is conducted. The tours give individuals from the member organisations, politicians, journalists and employees from different government agencies the opportunity to visit other countries and learn about their security and defence policies first-hand.

In recent years, our study tours have been going to Brussels, Moscow, Warsaw and Washington, to name just a few destinations. These tours typically include visits to government ministries and agencies, think tanks and the local Swedish embassies.

FINANCES
The activities of Folk och Försvar are mainly financed through a grant from the Ministry of Defence (4,5 million SEK or approx. € 447 000), but also through membership fees (0,5 million SEK or approx. € 50 000). In addition, some projects are partly financed through project contributions.