What can the UK learn from Sweden about whole-of-society resilience?

Traditionally, resilience in the UK has focused on response and recovery. However, current threats such as conflict, cyber-attacks, terrorism and climate change show that true resilience is about more than just recovery. It is about society as a whole being able to anticipate, prepare, react, recover, adapt and learn from adverse events.

The UK Government’s Resilience Framework, published at the end of 2022, is the first presentation of how the UK Government plans to implement a new strategic approach to resilience. It sets out three key principles: a developed and shared understanding of the risks of a civil crisis; prevention rather than cure whenever possible; and flexibility as an aspiration of society as a whole.

Strong collective resilience ultimately requires a level of preparedness that effectively counters threats – even if they never materialize. It requires time, resources and money from ministers and officials to study the threat landscape and develop policy against a wide range of unknowns. It is difficult to balance preparing for the unknown and solving the real problems facing society today. However, combating underlying societal stresses has been proven to reduce the effects of shocks (for example, better societal health would reduce the effects of a pandemic). It is also true that crises disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, underscoring the importance of addressing both the unknown and the known as part of national resilience.

In implementing its new approach, the UK government may adopt the approaches of other countries, particularly Sweden’s Total Defense policy. While deeply rooted in preparing for war, Total Defense has helped build resilience that goes well beyond conflict management.

Priority is given to trust in the government

The overall defense obligation is mandatory for Swedish citizens either through military, civilian or public service. Sweden’s established approach means that when the highest threat state is declared, the whole society understands its role and is ready to act. And it’s something citizens are willing to do – according to a report published in December 2021, 49% of Swedish respondents said they would take a combat stance to defend Sweden, 77% would risk their lives in a non-combat role, and 84% would take a non-life-threatening, non-combat role. This understanding supports a country’s resilience to threats, including non-combatant threats.

Swedish society showed remarkable resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, restrictions remained relatively low compared to the UK, and citizens were mostly encouraged, not mandated, to make changes to their lives. A study by the Swedish Civil Preparedness Agency (MSB) showed that almost the entire population changed their behavior; A decisive factor in ensuring that the total number of excess deaths in Sweden between 2020 and 2022 was among the lowest in Europe.

How does the government build this level of unyielding resilience among its citizens? Trust, of course. The first line of the Swedish constitution states that “all public power in Sweden comes from the people”; a powerful sign of the status quo. It is no coincidence that trust in the Swedish government is at its highest since 2014, when the country rose to fourth place in the World Happiness Report.

In contrast, a report by the National Center for Social Research found that 58% of UK citizens would “almost never” trust politicians to tell the truth in a pinch. Building the foundations for whole-of-society sustainability in the UK starts with rebuilding trust by listening to communities and citizens to understand what is important to them.

Contextualize the threat landscape

Since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Sweden has strengthened resilience efforts on all fronts, from securing food supplies throughout the country to accelerating the energy transition. In October 2022, Swedish government agencies accelerated these efforts by introducing a new civil protection and crisis preparedness structure. This includes six specific geographical regional civil protection areas at the regional level and 10 different sectors for the implementation of important social functions at the national level. Government communication contextualizes threats in a way that empowers citizens rather than scares them. For example, in 2018, the government issued “If a crisis or war comes” leaflets to 4.7 million households across the country, explaining how best to prepare for events such as conflicts, cyber attacks and natural disasters. Updated versions of the brochures are scheduled to be sent to citizens before the end of 2024.

Then there is the Swedish Psychological Defense Agency, which was established in 2022 to combat misinformation from foreign territories. Not only does the agency have a website full of information to help citizens stay alert to these types of campaigns, but it also works with local municipalities and businesses at a regional level.

The UK government has set up its ‘Prepare’ website to inform citizens. The site is available to those with an internet connection, but not to those without. Other options for disseminating important information could be national surveys and local town halls. For citizens to own their resilience, it must be meaningful to them.

Bring in the wider community

Sweden does not rely solely on top-down commitment. There are 18 voluntary defense organizations in the country, with around 350,000 members, which provide training for volunteers in specialized fields such as radio communications, transport and logistics. In particular, the UK is making progress in this area through the Stronger Local Resilience Forums (LRF) program and the appointment of a Chief Resilience Officer for each region. These officers are responsible for bringing local leaders together and ensuring that resilience initiatives are effectively managed.

However, citizen engagement in resilience in the UK tends to be top-down and narrowly focused on cyber security. In a recent survey, we asked UK citizens about the biggest threats to national security over the next decade. Despite the prevalence of ongoing international conflicts, a third of respondents chose cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure – more than any other threat.

An all-encompassing approach casts a wider net through holistic engagement. And it works. PA recently hosted a ‘whole of society’ community resilience event in Greater Manchester, where local and central government, community leaders, volunteers and local businesses met to discuss bridging top-down and bottom-up resilience. Together we explored the possibilities, defined the design principles of social sustainability and paved the way for the pilot program.

Instead of taking a purely top-down approach, nations can leverage grassroots and community structures to create the strongest resilience posture. In the UK this can be assisted by the Regional Resilience Director of each LRF.

Define roles with standards, incentives and outcomes

In order for society’s infrastructure to remain sustainable, organizations must know exactly how to perform their role. This requires three things: standards, incentives and results. However, if you can’t guarantee that the threat you’re preparing for will materialize, it’s hard to make a strong business case. However, investing in engagement has proven to be at least six times more cost-effective than disaster recovery.

Sweden has introduced several financial incentives aimed at sustainability. Municipalities can, for example, apply for state aid for preventive measures that reduce the probability or consequences of natural disasters. The provinces responsible for specialized health care can apply for state grants to increase the durability of health care properties, so that they can better withstand crises and wars. In addition, targeted investment support will be established to improve the resilience of agriculture against production input shortages and improve Sweden’s food security. Sweden is also implementing the CER directive (Critical Entities Resilience). This European framework holds Member States responsible for adopting a national CER strategy and ensures that these entities have a resilience plan in place before, during and after an accident.

In the UK, the only legal mechanism in place for resilience is the Civil Contingency Act 2004, in which LRFs are central. While expanding their focus, LRFs are fundamentally designed to deal with sudden emergencies. However, threats to a nation’s sustainability can often bubble under the surface.

To tackle the hidden threats, the UK Government must speed up the reform of the UK Governance Resilience Framework. A more strategic, joint and always-on approach to resilience enables the public and private sectors to target evolving threats. Standards and measurement tools are important for monitoring progress. For example, the six-dividend model of resilience uses real-world data to estimate the benefits from the realization of a threat, but also the value produced now. It looks at investments in reducing risk, reducing chronic stressors and increasing resilience (characterized by good leadership, collaboration, trust, learning and partnership).

The civil service is at the heart of national sustainability, as are the people served by public services and systems. By adopting and refining comprehensive, whole-of-society strategies, the UK will not only withstand threats, but thrive in the face of them. The UK can build on its existing resilience structures and share insights with other countries to support wider resilience at local, national and international levels.

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