Swedish Military Intelligence: Producing Knowledge - Hardcover

Erikkson, Gunilla

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1474413447 ISBN 13: 9781474413442

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Builds a revisionary theoretical framework for researching intelligence knowledge and applies it to the Swedish Military and Security Directorate
Gunilla Eriksson revises our perception of intelligence as carefully collected data and objective truth, arguing that there are hidden aspects to intelligence analysis that need to be uncovered and critically examined. This twofold study investigates the character of intelligence knowledge and the social context in which it is produced, using the Swedish Military and Security Directorate (MUST) as a case study.
Eriksson argues that there is an implicit framework that continuously influences knowledge production: what kind of data is considered relevant, how this data is interpreted and the specific social and linguistic context of the organisation, surrounded by unarticulated norms and specific procedures. She asks whether these conventions hamper or obstruct intelligence assessments; an essential analysis, given that history has shown us the grave consequences basing policy on intelligence's wrong conclusions.
Sources include:
The annual Swedish Armed Forces Strategic Intelligence Estimates from 1998–2010Lengthy and highly valuable interviews with the analysts, including managers, working at MUST, giving insights into everyday life at the institution and leading to many important resultsParticipant observation carried out by the author at MUST working meetings and seminars during the production process of the 2010 estimate, and drawing on her experience from her years working as an active analyst

About this title

About the Author

Gunilla Eriksson is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of War Studies at the Swedish National Defense University. She holds a PhD in political science from Örebro University, Sweden, Prior to her academic career, she was an intelligence analyst at the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST).

From the Back Cover

‘This book is a remarkable achievement in a field with a chronic shortage of contemporary in-depth empirical studies. Her investigation of the knowledge production process within the walls of an intelligence machinery offers unique insights, far beyond the ordinary handbook literature, personal recollections and historical accounts.’Wilhelm Agrell, Lund UniversityExamining how styles of thought can influence intelligence analysis and thwart objectivityIntelligence produces knowledge on security issues such as conflicts, wars and complex political processes in order for policy makers to generate informed decisions. Intelligence knowledge production is often held as objective, value neutral, and with the intention of ‘speaking truth onto power’, but this study holds that such a perspective requires significant revision. Gunilla Eriksson argues for the existence of an implicit interpretive framework that continuously influences knowledge production, thereby making it dependent on one accepted and specific perspective contrary to the intentional objectivity. This inherited frame of interpretation, as well as the socialised norm of staying within the existing accepted frameworks of behaviour, ends up fostering conformity to the established ‘logic of appropriateness’. Utilising unpublished primary intelligence material and adopting a critical policy analysis approach, Erikkson offers an original, critical view of the conditions surrounding the production of intelligence knowledge.Gunilla Eriksson is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of War Studies at the Swedish National Defense University. Prior to her academic career, she was an intelligence analyst at the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service.Cover image: © Omelchenko/shutterstock.comCover design:[EUP logo]edinburghuniversitypress.comISBN 978-1-4744-1344-2Barcode

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474413447
• ISBN 13: 9781474413442
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240