The purpose of this paper is to analyze a specific dimension of the veteran policy discourse in academic and news articles published during the Second World War. I conduct a textual analysis and apply frame theory to structure my study of 45 academic articles taken from JSTOR and 314 news articles taken from ProQuest. My findings reveal three distinct frames that represent veterans themselves as a social problem and/or threat. One frame suggests that a mass influx of WWII veterans into the US economy would cause an economic catastrophe similar to the Great Depression in the 1930s. Another frame indicates that veterans have been indoctrinated into military life and that they had values and beliefs that were incompatible with American society and democracy. The third frame claims that policies which provide public benefits to veterans exclusively could create a privileged political class that could undermine democracy and meritocracy. My research adds value to current studies of American veterans by emphasizing the extreme fear that has character- ized elite political discourse on WWII veteran reintegration and how that discourse related to veteran policy proposals during that time. / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this paper is to analyze a specific dimension of the veteran policy discourse in academic and news articles published during the Second World War. I examine 45 academic articles taken from JSTOR and 314 news articles taken from ProQuest. My findings reveal three distinct arguments that represent veterans themselves as a social problem and/or threat. One argument suggests that a mass influx of WWII veterans into the US economy would cause an economic catastrophe similar to the Great Depression in the 1930s. Another argument indicates that veterans have been indoctrinated into military life and that they had values and beliefs that were incompatible with American society and democracy. The third argument claims that policies which provide public benefits to veterans exclusively could create a privileged political class that undermines democracy and meritocracy. My research adds value to current studies of American veterans by emphasizing the extreme fear that has characterized elite political discourse on WWII veteran reintegration and how that discourse related to veteran policy proposals during that time.

This Bachelor’s thesis was conducted with the purpose of forming a broader foundation of ideas for questions about caring for veterans in Sweden. The problem at hand was identified through reading of readily available and widely cited Swedish research on the subject. This research mainly establishes a narrative in which Swedish veterans are healthy at group level - both compared to the Swedish civilian population and international veteran populations. This thesis does not challenge this conclusion, but considers the causation utilized in the research as problematic. Establishing that Sweden should conduct debate and policy concerning its veterans on contemporary knowledge in the field – this study analyses the most recent policy investigation conducted by the government, SOU2014:27. The main questions concern descriptive ambitions and simply ask what causations these policy documents recognize in describing and curing mental illness among veterans and whether contemporary identity perspectives are represented in these ideas or not. The study is based on Vedung’s ideas of the political idea and utilizes an idea analysis method with ideal types as analytical instruments – a research design strongly guided by Bergström and Boréus. The findings show that Swedish policy is mostly established on traditional ideas concerning mental illness among veterans – although a big part of the policy concerning the involvement of society at large, can be interpreted as identity driven ideas. The main conclusion is that empirics indicate a presence of stigmatizing military identities among Swedish veterans. To truly understand the Swedish veteran population and their well-being, there is an urgent need for further research on this topic in particular.