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Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to find out what role the Swedish civilian population is expected to have in the country's total defense and what the civilians are expected to do in cases where there is a high level of preparedness, crisis, or war. This purpose includes finding out if the authorities questioned have varying views of said role. Method: The research method on which this essay is based in an interview study and a document analysis. The informants are made up by five different Swedish authorities and one municipality. Material: All the policy documents that this essay analyzes are taken from the government's data base and deal with the various proposals that came about during the closing down of total defense at the turn of the millennium and the rearmament around the mid 2010's. Furthermore, the material also consists of interviews as mentioned above. Conclusion: The analysis of the various policy documents and the interviews resulted in a clarification of the civilian population's role in total defense. This is because the authorities gave tangible examples of what they believe the civilian population should do in the event of heightened alert, crisis, or war. The previous ambiguity of the role is explained with the help of the policy documents and reflections from the informants. The study is concluded with a discussion about the role of the civilian population and offers suggestions for further research on the role of the civilian population in the Swedish total defense.