Sweden – the threatened state? A comparative study of underwater intrusions and media’s portrait of Sweden in terms of securitization

Abstract: Vessels have on numerous occasions entered Swedish territorial waters. Two incident of this sort occurred in October 1982 and October 2014. In this thesis I will conduct a comparative study of how these events reflects on how Sweden are portrayed in terms of securitization from a media perspective. This study have been conducted by a content analysis of articles form three Swedish newspapers from the years 1982 and 2014. By analysing the frequency as well as the context of certain attributes I have been able to conclude that there has been a shift in language in terms of securitization in 2014, compared to 1982.