Sweden – a failed state?

This paper identifies a gap in the discussion of state sovereignty and its related institutions. Most discussions of sovereignty concern the demarcation of political space between the domestic and international sphere. Such disputes also raise broader questions of boundary issues that are related to modern sovereignty, namely the division between the public and private sphere. Normally institutions are thought to provide stability and predictability. This paper use Sweden as a case in point, to investigate if we can identify an institutionalization of uncertainty concerning central political boundaries in the security politics between the years 1990-2010. It finds that we indeed can identify an institutionalization of uncertainty and emergent governance by networks that actually challenges core state institutional design. Modern liberal democratic state may be as sensitive to state capture and state penetration as failed states if we follow the evidence found in the case of Sweden.