The three largest storms in Sweden in modern time (1954, 1969 and 2005) are in focus in this thesis. By doing a narrative analysis of the countries four leading newspapers, the aim is to find out what stories are constructed during and after big crises such as storms. And more specifically what those narratives say about Sweden, being looked at in a historical rearview window. The result shows that the people of Sweden are portrayed as gender conservatives and that they are all ethnic swedes. There are no room for immigrants in the narratives. The narrative concerning every storm differs though, depending how the inhabitants act. In 1954 Sweden is portraited as a nation where everybody do things together and helps out. During the storm 1969 ordinary peoples efforts are no longer requested. The state promises to take care of everything. When it can´t keep its promises voices from the media and the government are requesting an even stronger state. But in 2005 there have been an era of liberalisation and deregulation. Private companies are now in charge of the electric power supply. After the storm the power is out in many places and people behave differently. Some are passive and demands that the electricity works, other are doing the best of the situation. People are more active on the countryside than in the cities. All are however blaming the electricity companies. But what we see is a more fragmented country than before, where the biggest victims are the small foresters who in many cases have lost everything, they own. They were victims even in the earlier storms, but in 1969, when Sweden, in many ways, was a world leading country the foresters’ stories were not to be heard. In 2005 the forest farmers story are once again told, they who loses everything and, in some cases, commit suicide. They stand as reminders of the old and very poor Sweden, an outskirt in the world. This narrative can have its explanation in the assumption that when the times are uncertain, or changing, a nation looks at its history.

Natural disasters are social and political phenomena. Social structures create vulnerability to natural hazards and governments are often seen as responsible for the effects of disasters. Do social trust, political trust, and government satisfaction therefore generally change following natural disasters? How can media coverage explain change in political attitudes? Prior research suggests that these variables are prone to change, but previous studies often focus on single cases, whereas this dissertation adopts a broader approach, examining multiple disasters. It investigates the social and political impact of natural disasters by examining their effect on social and political attitudes and by exploring media coverage as a mechanism underlying political consequences. The results reveal that natural disasters may have a comparatively frequent, although small and temporary, effect on social trust. Substantial effects are less likely. Social trust was found to decrease significantly when disasters cause nine or more fatalities (Paper I). Political attitudes were expected to be prone to change after natural disasters, but Paper II illustrates that political trust and government satisfaction among citizens are generally hardly affected by these events. Finally, media framing and the political claims of actors explained the variation in political consequences after disasters of similar severity. Paper III also illustrates the importance of the political context of natural disasters, as their occurrence can be strategically exploited by actors to further criticism towards the government in politically tense situations. This dissertation contributes to existing disaster research by investigating more cases than disaster studies typically do. It also uses a systematic case selection process, and a quantitative approach with a, for disaster research, unique research design. Hence, it offers methodological nuance to existing studies. A broader analysis, factoring in the variation of disaster severity and the increased number of cases offers new answers and tests assumptions about underlying patterns. The main contribution of this thesis is that it examines how common political and social effects of disasters are. Furthermore, this dissertation contributes to existing disasters research by emphasizing contextual and explanatory factors, e.g., properties of disasters and the political context that affects the media coverage of natural disasters.