
Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard
By: Jenny Malmström and Joakim Berndtsson
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31374/sjms.290 | Journal eISSN: 2596-3856
Language: English
Page range: 1 - 16
Submitted on: Apr 30, 2024
Accepted on: Dec 9, 2024
Published on: Jan 2, 2025
Published by: Scandinavian Military Studies
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year
© 2025 Jenny Malmström, Joakim Berndtsson, published by Scandinavian Military Studies
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.