At the beginning of October, the Government decided that the Swedish Armed Forces will assist the Police Authority in its efforts to stop the escalating wave of violence. In practice, this means that the Swedish Armed Forces make personnel and equipment available to the Police Authority.
Professor Chiara Ruffa, who has researched the role of the military in politics, believes that one must be careful when deepening cooperation. This is because the military in France gained more power after the Opération Sentinelle was launched after the terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016.
"The soldiers were given the same legal rights as the police, which meant that they behaved like police officers. These rights were later revoked, but the presence of the military became more frequent. In the Ministry of Defense, the military was given a seat and the military's access to the president increased, she explains.
The military will provide the police with expertise
According to Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M), it will initially be a matter of the police getting help from the Armed Forces with analysis capacity as well as bomb and explosives expertise. But the government has also opened the door for the military to use force against civilians.
Although the cooperation between the military and the police looks different in Sweden and France, Professor Chiara Ruffa believes that Sweden can learn from how France has used the military.
Watch the Foreign Office's latest episode Deploy the military and hear Chiara Ruffa tell us more in the clip above about three mistakes that France made when deploying the military and what lessons Sweden can learn from that.