Source Criticism as a Technology of Government in the Swedish Psychological Defence: The Impact of Humanistic Knowledge on Contemporary Security Policy

Fredrik Bertilsson

doi:10.3390/h10010013

Abstract

“Source criticism” (källkritik) has become an essential part of the Swedish government’s activities against false information, deception campaigns, and propaganda, which are viewed as fundamentally destabilising forces that can potentially undermine the democratic system, the public debate, and political decision-making. The purpose of this article is to explore source criticism as a technology of government focusing on the Swedish Psychological Defence. I analyse the way in which source criticism is brought to bear on Swedish national security policy in the light of Foucauldian theories about modern governmentality and technologies of the self. Source criticism is seen as an example of a contemporary form of government that entails a redistribution of responsibility from the state to the individual, who is provided with certain “technologies of self” to master an unpredictable political environment. With this case study as empirical example, the aim of the article is to contribute to the research on the influence of humanistic knowledge in security and defence policy domains. This prompts further discussion about what happens with the democratic and critical potential of humanistic knowledge as it is enrolled in government operations.

Highlights

In Sweden as well as in international politics, “information warfare” or “information operations” carried out by a foreign power or any antagonistic actor with the purpose of affecting the views, behaviour, and decision-making of democratic societies are at the heart of contemporary security policy
In an information booklet reaching the majority of Swedish households, or nearly five million of them, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) is highlighting the significance of source criticism as a vital instrument against false information, deception campaigns, and propaganda, which are viewed as fundamentally destabilising forces that can potentially undermine the democratic system, the public debate, and political decisionmaking (MSB 2018)
The purpose of the article is to explore source criticism as a technology of government focusing on the Swedish Psychological Defence

Summary

Introduction

In Sweden as well as in international politics, “information warfare” or “information operations” carried out by a foreign power or any antagonistic actor with the purpose of affecting the views, behaviour, and decision-making of democratic societies are at the heart of contemporary security policy. Source criticism developed in the 19th century as a method for historians to assess the sources by which the past was studied It has had a wide-reaching impact on historical scholarship in the Scandinavian countries and for a long time it was intricately linked with the professionalisation of historical scholarship (Torstendahl 2000). A more radical form of source criticism emerged in the early 20th century and was influential in Sweden, where Lauritz and Curt Weibull were especially prominent, as well as in the other Scandinavian countries through, for instance, Erik Arup in Denmark and Edvard Bull in Norway This radicalisation entailed turning the burden of proof around: sources should be rejected unless there were clear reasons for trusting them. I delineate the research context and analytical viewpoints of the article

Previous Research and Analytical Viewpoints

A New Security Concern

Source Criticism and the Responsibility of Individuals to Uphold and Protect

Concluding Remarks