Reports | Briefings

A China Playbook for Europe

June 14, 2021

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to shape the world in its image. For that purpose it uses instruments that risk to destroy liberal democracy. The nature of the West’s conflict with the CCP is systemic, not national or cultural. It is not China’s rise that is the problem, but China’s rise as an authoritarian […]

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RUSSIA’S VICTIM NARRATIVE

November 30, 2020

November 30th marks the beginning of the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940). 81 years later, the history of the war remains a burning issue which is being used by Russia for geopolitical purposes. In the new report “Russia’s Victim Narrative”, Professor Stefan Forss examines Russia’s narrative building around The […]

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China’s attacks to silence critics

September 30, 2020

The Chinese State is attempting to coerce the West into implementing self-censorship through recurring attacks on individuals and institutions that defend human rights in China. The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Stockholm has been notably active in its attacks on Swedish contributors to the debate. The most sensitive and triggering issues for […]

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Controlling the Past

May 8, 2020

In the height of the Covid-19 crisis in Russia, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree making it a criminal offense to destroy war monuments both in Russia and abroad. Soon after, Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense wrote a letter to the head of the Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, asking him to consider filing criminal charges […]

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Putting Modern War in Perspective

February 10, 2020

In this brief, Oscar Jonsson, senior fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum, surveys the contemporary ways of understanding modern warfare. Moreover, he is analysing the main drivers of change in war but also society today. This includes how the information environment, artificial intelligence and the globalisation of finance is altering the parameters for statecraft in […]

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Follow the Money and end up in real estate in strategic areas

January 6, 2020

In this brief, Follow the Money and end up in real estate in strategic areas, Patrik Oksanen, senior fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum, explores how laundered Russian money is channelled to various real estate projects across Finland and Sweden. He further elaborates on how these properties often are located in areas with strategic importance, […]

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Strike First and Strike Hard? Russian Military Modernization and Strategy of Active Defence

December 2, 2019

In the brief Strike first and strike hard? Russian military modernization and strategy of active defence, Karsten Friis Senior Research Fellow and Maren Garberg Bredesen, Junior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), discusses the evolution of the Russia military capabilities and concept of active defence. The strategy of active defence was […]

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Challenges of modern deterrence and Swedish interests

November 25, 2019

In the brief Challenges of modern deterrence and Swedish interests, Leo Michel, Non-resident senior fellow at Atlantic Council, explains the basics of military deterrence and further elaborates on how the geopolitical shift and technological advancements have changed the concept of deterrence since the Cold war era and what its new intricate features are, especially concerning […]

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Illicit Finance and National Security

November 18, 2019

In the brief Illicit Finance and National Security, Joshua Kirschenbaum visiting Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund explores how authoritarian regimes and private actors have gained a greater understanding on how to use new methods of finance to further their goals. Furthermore, he points to several areas more exposed than others to these […]

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Drivers of Russian Grand Strategy

April 23, 2019

Russian leaders may not have something that would satisfy the Western academic strategy community as a deliberate “grand strategy,” but they nonetheless possess a strategic outlook and a theory of victory for this competition. That theory is based less on direct competition and more on raiding, a stratagem that holds promise for revisionist ambitions and […]

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