Psychological defence

Psychological defence is society's collective ability to detect and resist undue information influence directed against Sweden by foreign powers. The description comes from the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency, MPF.

In this context, foreign powers means countries or organisations that may have a hostile attitude towards Sweden. Undue information influence means not being clear about who you are and what you really want.

Attempts to influence the opponent

Ultimately, psychological defence is about increasing the population's willingness to defend itself during times of heightened alert, when the country is at war or there is an immediate risk of war.

In wars and conflicts, parties try to influence each other. This may involve convincing the opponent's decision-makers to change in a way that favours your own cause. It is also effective to make the civilian population of the opponent lose faith and believe that resistance is meaningless.

But even in peacetime we are exposed to influence from foreign powers. It may be nations or organisations outside Sweden that are the senders.

Make us distrust each other

The aim is often to make us distrust the society we live in and also each other. A population that does not trust other people, media or authorities is easier to defeat.

When we talk about the collective resilience of society, we are not just talking about public authorities but about all the people in the country. Part of our resilience is to continue to be critical, scrutinising and voicing our opinions.