The modern doctrines of today are becoming more and more ambiguous about what their true message really is. Modern authors try to balance between writing doctrines who forces its readers to follow the doctrine as slaves, or writing it in such a way that it is completely impossible to comprehend by the soldiers and officers to which it was meant to help in the first place. On top of this modern doctrine seem to aim towards addressing far more audiences than the traditional foot soldier.  The introduction of the latest Swedish strategic doctrine clearly states that the doctrine aims to serve more than one purpose, which is fine. However, the doctrine fails to mention what its main purpose is. The aim of this thesis is to examine which of the aforementioned purposes is the doctrines main purpose.  Research findings indicate that the doctrine is using authoritative and theoretic elements over cultural ones throughout its content. Because of this reason this thesis finds the doctrines main purpose to be used as a tool of command.   The main conclusion of the thesis is that the doctrine does not join its brethren in being as abstract and unclear as some of the military theorists claim modern doctrine to be. However, additional research needs to be conducted to further validate the results.

According to the doctrinal dilemma, the construction of military doctrines is challenging. Either the doctrines become too explicit and specific or they become too abstract for the target groups, both of which have negative consequences. The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent the dilemma exists and how it is taken into consideration in the doctrinal development process. In order to analyse the dilemma, two Swedish doctrines have been reviewed and their authors interviewed.   The results indicates that the doctrinal dilemma has had a central role in the doctrinal development process of both doctrines. The authors have handled the dilemma through constructing abstract rather than specific doctrines. The study also reveals that it is necessary that doctrines are consistently formulated and that the users are acquainted with the style of the doctrine. The dissertation contributes with an increased understanding of the dilemma, facilitating the construction of doctrines and enabling that they can serve as force multipliers.