Political Science

Main research areas

• Civil defence
• European security
• The EU as a foreign policy actor
• Global political order
• Globalization, strategic flows and dependencies

Current research

Rikard Bengtsson is the PI of the research project "New wine in new bottles: On the preconditions for a modern civil defence", financed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) for the period 2018 - 2024.

Recent publications

"Resilience through total defence: Towards a shared  security culture in the Nordic-Baltic region?, European Journal of International Security, 2024: 1-22, https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2024.15  (with Jana Wrange and Douglas Brommesson)

För Europa i en ny tid: Sveriges ordförandeskap i EU 2023. Stockholm: Santérus Förlag (2023) (editor and chapter author)

”Styrningsuppfattningar, förtroende och hotbilder hos det civila försvarets genomförare”. Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift vol. 125, nr. 3 (2023) (with Douglas Brommesson)

”Institutional trust and emergency preparedness: Perceptions of Covid 19 crisis management in Sweden”. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, DOI 10.1111/1468-5973.12391(2022) (with Douglas Brommesson)

”The European Union in International Relations: Great Power under Strain?”. In Brian J. C.  McKercher (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft. London and New York: Routledge (2022)

“The European Union’s self-conception of its roles in global affairs”. In Michael Grossman, Francis Schortgen & Gordon Friedrichs (eds), National Role Conceptions in a New Millennium: Defining a Place in a Changing World. London and New York: Routledge (2022)

”Coronakrisens strategiska implikationer: Globala skiften och EU:s framtid”. Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, vol. 123, nr. 5 (2021)

”I geoekonomins tid” Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift vol. 123, nr. 1 (2021)

“Sverige i den globala ekonomin”. In Douglas Brommesson & Ann-Marie Ekengren (eds) Sverige i världen. Malmö: Gleerups (2022) 

"Allmänhetens förtroende för pandemihantering och framtida civil beredskap". In Ulrika Andersson, Henrik Oscarsson, Björn Rönnerstrand & Nora Theorin (eds), Du sköra nya värld. Göteborg: SOM-institutet (2022) (with Douglas Brommesson)

”Institutional trust and emergency preparedness: Perceptions of Covid 19 crisis management in Sweden”. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, DOI 10.1111/1468-5973.12391(2022) (with Douglas Brommesson)

”Coronakrisens strategiska implikationer: Globala skiften och EU:s framtid”. Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, vol. 123, nr. 5 (2021)

”I geoekonomins tid” Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift vol. 123, nr. 1 (2021)

”Internationell politisk ekonomi“. In Jakob Gustavsson & Jonas Tallberg (eds), Internationella relationer. 4 ed. Lund: Studentlitteratur (2021)

“Nordic Security and Defence Cooperation: Differentiated Integration in Uncertain Times”. Politics and Governance vol. 8, nr. 4 (2020)

EU:s hantering av coronakrisen. Lund: Statsvetenskapliga institutionen (2020) (with Zigne Edström)

“Internal and external perceptions of small state security: the case of Estonia”. European security 28(4) (2019) (with Jana Wrange)

”Staten som kommunikatör. En panelstudie av effekterna av informationskampanjen Om krisen eller kriget kommer”. Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademins Handlingar och Tidskrift nr 4/2019 (with Douglas Brommesson)

The EU and the Emerging Global Order. Essays in honour of Ole Elgström. Lund: Department of Political Science. Lund Political Studies 194 (2018) (editor, with Malena Rosén-Sundström)

"Sverige i den globala ekonomin". I Douglas Brommesson och Ann-Marie Ekengren (red.), Sverige i världen. Malmö: Gleerups (2017)

“Sweden in the Baltic Sea Region”. In Jon Pierre (ed.) Handbook of Swedish Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2015)

“The EU and Global Economic Governance: Playing the Role of a Global Leader?” In Annika Björkdahl, Natalia Chaban, John Leslie and Annick Masselot (eds)  Importing EU Norms: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Findings. Berlin: Springer (2015)

”Internationell politisk ekonomi“. In Jakob Gustavsson and Jonas Tallberg (eds), Internationella relationer. 3rd edition. Lund: Studentlitteratur (2014)

Det europeiska projektet: Politik och juridik, historia och framtid. Stockholm: Liber (2013) (with Ian Manners, Hans-Åke Persson, Linda Gröning and Ola Zetterqvist)

 “Competing role conceptions? The European Union in global politics”. Foreign Policy Analysis vol.8 (2012) (with Ole Elgström)

 “The changing face of the global political economy: What implications for future global leadership? In Bo Huldt, Tomas Ries, Pekka Sivonen and Camilla Huldt (eds) The Emerging Global Security Environment(Strategic yearbook 2012). Stockholm: National Defence College (2012)

“The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region: Golden or Missed Opportunity?” In Andres Kasekamp (ed.) Estonian Foreign Policy Yearbook 2011. Tallinn: Estonian Foreign Policy Institute (2012)

“A Global Great Power in the Making? The European Union in the Emerging Global Order”. In Brian J. C. McKercher (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft. London: Routledge (2011)

“Norden in the Arctic and Baltic Sea region”. In Teija Tiilikainen and Kaisa Korhonen (eds), Norden - Making a Difference. Possibilities for enhanced Nordic cooperation in international affairs. Helsinki: Finnish Institute of International Affairs (2011)

"Conclusions and policy recommendations". In Teija Tiilikainen and Kaisa Korhonen (eds),Norden - Making a Difference. Possibilities for enhanced Nordic cooperation in international affairs. Helsinki: Finnish Institute of International Affairs (2011) (with Nina Graeger, Kaisa Korhonen, Charly Salonius-Pasternak and Teija Tiilikainen)

"Exploring a Triangular Drama: The High Representative, the Council Presidency and the Commission". In Gisela Müller-Brandeck-Bocquet and Carolin Rüger (eds), The High Representative for the EU Foreign and Security Policy - Review and Prospects. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag (2011) (with David Allen)

“Reconsidering the European Union’s role in international relations: self-conceptions, expectations, and performance”. In Sebastian Harnisch, Cornelia Frank and Hanns W. Maull (eds) Role Theory in International Relations: Approaches and analyses. London: Routledge (2011) (with Ole Elgström)

"The European Security Order: The EU and the Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion". In Claes G. Alvstam, Birgitta Jännebring and Daniel Naurin (eds), I Europamissionens tjänst. Vänbok till Rutger Lindahl (CERGU skrift 25). Göteborg: Centre for European Research (2011)

Kort om EU. En introduktion till Europeiska unionen. Malmö: Gleerups (2010)

”Introduktion: Sveriges ordförandeskap i EU 2009”. In Rikard Bengtsson (ed.) I Europas tjänst: Sveriges ordförandeskap i EU 2009. Stockholm: SNS Förlag (2010)

”Närområdet: Regional prioritering som alleuropeiskt intresse”. In Rikard Bengtsson (ed.) I Europas tjänst: Sveriges ordförandeskap i EU 2009. Stockholm: SNS Förlag (2010)

”Lärdomar från två svenska EU-ordförandeskap”. In Rikard Bengtsson (ed.) I Europas tjänst: Sveriges ordförandeskap i EU 2009. Stockholm: SNS Förlag (2010) (with Jonas Tallberg)

“EU,  krisen och den nya globala ordningen“. In Lars Oxelheim, Lars Pehrson & Thomas Persson (ed.) EU och den globala krisen. Stockholm: Santérus Förlag (2010)

The EU and the European Security Order: Interfacing Security Actors. London: Routledge (2009)

„Den internationella fredens anatomi“. In Magnus Jerneck (ed.), Fred i realpolitikens skugga. Lund: Studentlitteratur (2009)

“I den stabila fredens gränsland: EU:s utvidgning och den europeiska grannskapspolitiken“. In Magnus Jerneck (ed.), Fred i realpolitikens skugga. Lund: Studentlitteratur (2009)