Dr J J Widen
Academic and Research Career
‘Jake’ Widen was awarded a BSc in Social Sciences from the University of Örebro, Sweden, in 1996, and an MSc in European Studies from the London School of Economics in 1997. He has conducted postgraduate research at King’s College London and completed his PhD at the Åbo Academy Finland. Since December 2003 he has been a researcher in War Studies at the Swedish National Defence College, Stockholm.
He served as an expert historian on behalf of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2003, working on a government enquiry on Swedish security policy, 1969-1989, as well as work as an expert historian for the Swedish Ministry of Defence, 2001-2003. In autumn 2005 he was awarded a Silver Medal by the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, as well as a prize by the Lars and Astrid Alberger Foundation, for his co-authored monograph, Militärteorins grunder, published in Stockholm in 2005.
He was elected an ESRI Research Fellow in June 2008.
Research Interests
‘Jake’ Widen is interested in various aspects of Swedish defence and security policy, trans-Atlantic relations, the history of the Cold War and military theory.
Principal Publications
Books
Väktare, ombud, kritiker – Sverige i amerikanskt säkerhetstänkande, 1961-1968 [Guardian, Delegate and Critic – Sweden’s role in US National Security 1961-1968], forthcoming autumn 2008.
Co-authored with Jan Ångström, Militärteorins grunder [Basic Foundations of Military Theory] (Stockholm: Swedish Armed Forces, 2005).
Journal Articles
J. J. Widen, ‘Julian Corbett and the Current British Maritime Doctrine’, Comparative Strategy, 28/2 (2009), pp. 170-185.
J. J. Widen & Jonathan Colman, ‘The Johnson Administration and the Recruitment of Allies in Vietnam, 1964-1968’, History, 94 (October 2009), pp. 461-482.
J. J. Widen & Jonathan Colman, ‘Lyndon B. Johnson, Alec Douglas-Home, Europe and the NATO Multilateral Force, 1963-64’, Journal of Transatlantic Studies, (Autumn 2007), pp. 179-198.
‘Sir Julian Corbett and the Theoretical Study of War’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 30 (February 2007), pp. 109-127.
‘The Wennerström Spy Case – A Western Perspective, Intelligence and National Security, 21 (December 2006), pp. 931-958.
Yearbooks
J. J. Widen & Jan Ångström, ’Skall militärteori förstås som teori eller praktik?’ [Should military theory be understood as theory or as practice?], in B. Brehmer (ed.) Krigsvetenskaplig årsbok 2005 [War Studies Yearbook 2005] (Stockholm: Swedish National Defence College, 2006).
Simon Moores & Jerker Widén, ’Sverige under det kalla kriget – den amerikanska underrättelsetjänstens perspektiv, mars 1952’ [Sweden During the Cold War – A US Intelligence Perspective, March 1952], Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademiens Handlingar och Tidskrift [The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences Proceedings and Journal, 2003:5, pp. 78-92.
Research Projects
Notkrisen och dess efterspel – USA:s relationer med Sverige under en av kalla krigets höjdpunkter, oktober 1961 – mars 1962 [The Note Crisis and Its Aftermath – US relations with Sweden during the zenith of the Cold War, October 1961-March 1962] (Research project – Sweden During the Cold War, Work report, no. 14, 2004), 90 pp.
Contact
J J Widen is a Research Fellow in the Centre for European Security and can be contacted by the Centre, or by e-mail at jerker.widen@fhs.se.
