"More dangerous than guns and tanks" : How cybersecurity is framed by the EU and Sweden

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to study the way the European Union and Sweden respectively frame the subject of cybersecurity, to see whether their framing differs and what consequences that may have. In order to study this, the thesis will study the cybersecurity strategies of the European Union and Sweden through a discourse analysis according to the Copenhagen school’s theory of securitization. The purpose is to see what the two actors define as the object that needs to be secured, what threatens said object and what measures should be taken to secure it. To study the cybersecurity strategies, data will be gathered from the European Union’s Cybersecurity Act of 2019 and Sweden’s six cybersecurity priorities, alongside other policy papers deemed relevant. The two points will then be compared in order to see how the framing align or contrast, to see what consequences that may bring.