Hur kan vi förstå försvarsstrategiskt samarbete mellan två stater genom ett praktikerperspektiv? Fallet Frankrike-Sverige

Sammanfattning: The concept of strategy has been the subject of much theorising and much has been written about what strategy is and what reasons might underlie the choice of different strategies. Considerably less has been written, however, about how strategy is actually done - what actions follow from the choice of strategy - and about those who actually do the action - the practitioners of strategy. In this paper, cooperation between France and Sweden is studied through the eyes of these practitioners with the ambition of increasing our understanding of defence strategic cooperation. The results of the study are threefold. Initially, French and Swedish strategy and the cooperation that takes place between the countries within the framework of their respective military cooperation strategies are described. Next, the practice of cooperation is described based on the activities described by the informants during the interviews. Finally, the practitioners' actions and the skills needed to operate in a political-diplomatic environment are described. Finally, a summary model of defence strategy cooperation from a practitioner's perspective is presented. The paper contributes both to the understanding of what cooperation actually consists of and to the understanding of how strategy becomes practical action. The inductive study is conducted as a qualitative interview study and does not claim to provide causal facts - the main contribution is about empirically grounded knowledge.