We live in a world driven by fast technologies. The same technologies that make information more accessible have created a dilemma by which the same conduits have also enabled access to mass amounts of counter-factual information. It is the assertion of this thesis project that counter- factual information poses a growing risk to the security and stability in liberal democratic societies and warrants a proportional response. The body of work which follows will explore what I have characterized as an information crisis. The information crisis, so presented, is a multi-faceted issue. It's constituent causes and outcomes concern both scholars of security studies and sociology. To address breadth of scope and immediacy of the crisis, the conceptual framework purposed in this project offers an interface between actor-network theory and security studies (ANT-security interface). Actor-network theory is a material-semiotic approach that preferences engagement with human and technological actants as an assemblage. Or, in other words, a network of relationships. The first chapter will introduce the dimensions of the information crisis, providing relevant examples of how counter-factual information embodies a human, and societal security issue. It will delineate important concepts such as misinformation, and...

This paper examines the relationship between Europeanisation and the recent changes of the Norwegian and Swedish security identities. Since the mid-1990s, these two countries have gone different ways, the former as an active non-member with no decision-making powers and the latter as an active participant in the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Concerning Norway and Sweden’s security identity, both have changed exceedingly over the years. Norway, which has valued the US and the transatlantic partnership through NATO, namely being an ‘Atlanticist’, seeks a deeper connection to the EU as a security actor over the last fifteen years, despite the authorities emphasizing that NATO remains the cornerstone for Norwegian security policy. Sweden, which maintained strongly neutral and non-aligned throughout the 20th century, was initially sceptic to partaking in the security and defence dimension of the Union. Nonetheless, Sweden, as a member, managed to change its perception of EU’s security policy through highlighting crisis management and turned out to become one of EU’s most active contributors in shaping the ESDP. This paper concludes that Norway and Sweden have seen similar outcomes concerning Europeanisation, despite holding different positions in relation to the EU. Norway has not been able to hold an influential role respecting its European integration process, even though the authorities seek to gain as much input as possible into the ESDP through associate membership. Sweden, in contrast, entered the Union with an initial negative attitude concerning the security and defence policy but has changed its perception and chosen to play an active part in the policy making process through influencing and deepening its cooperation.

Aspiring to become a “global security actor,” the EU has, throughout the last decade, increasingly made use of its versatile toolbox in crisis management missions far beyond its own soil. Crisis management missions are particularly challenging when security is threatened on various levels at once, as is the case in Mali. There, addressing the conflict means combining military assistance with development aid, state-building efforts, and security sector reforms. Ambitious to apply a truly comprehensive approach, meaning an approach that bridges military and civilian efforts, the EU has launched two missions in Mali; yet it has refrained from providing a full-scale military operation. This case study aims to foster an understanding of European security actorness by accounting for the challenges of EU crisis management in general and in Mali in particular from a theoretical perspective that integrates realist, institutionalist, and constructivist understandings. Finally, this thesis contributes to the academic debate on the concept of strategic culture by analyzing to what extent the concept proves helpful for understanding the challenges inherent in European crisis management.