Johan Eriksson

I am Professor of Political Science at Södertörn University. My teaching and research focus on international relations and security studies. Current projects focus on the politics of outer space, and on European security.

Google scholar profile (click here External link, opens in new window.)

I am a participant in the research project A Robust Norden? Studies of Cross-Border Crisis Management, funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR).

I was project leader of Russia in Space, funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen). The project involved Roman Privalov who successfully defended his doctoral thesis in 2023. In this project we investigated inter alia visions of space exploration, connections between politics and popular culture, and what roles new private and public actors play in space. Read more ablout the project here External link, opens in new window..

Recent publications

Eriksson, Johan & Giampiero Giacomello (2025) “Tales of Cyberspace and Artificial Intelligence: Diverging Stakeholderships?”, Global Policy (accepted, forthcoming).

Eriksson, Johan (2025) “Sweden’s first defence and security space strategy: Aligning with allies”, Space Policy, 73, available online 25 April, 2025. Open access: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265964625000153

Newlove-Eriksson, Lindy and Johan Eriksson (2023) "Conceptualizing the European Military-Civilian-Industrial Complex: The Need for a Helicopter Perspective", Defence Studies, 23(4): 561-588, open access: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14702436.2023.2277434

Giacomello, Giampiero, Johan Eriksson and Francesco Guimelli (2023) "Sources of Strength:: The European Defence Industry in a Disorderly World", Defence Studies, 23(4): 527-530. Open acess: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14702436.2023.2285303?src=recsys

Eriksson, Johan and Lindy Newlove-Eriksson (2023) “Outsourcing the American Space Dream: SpaceX and the Race to the Stars”, Astropolitics (published online 5 April), open access: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14777622.2023.2196017?src=

Eriksson, Johan & Roman Privalov (2023) "Ryssland i rymden: nostalgi, futurism och stormaktspolitik", Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, 125(1): 99-120.

Giacomello, Giampiero &Johan Eriksson (2023) “Rise of the Nerd: Knowledge, Power and International Relations in a Digital World", in Digital International Relations, edited by Corneliu Bjola & Markus Kornprobst, Ch. 3. Routledge.

Eriksson, Johan & Giampiero Giacomello (2022) "Space and the New Iron Curtain", Crisis Response Journal, 17(3): 84-85. Available here External link. (or send me an e-mail for a free copy).

Aylott, Nicholas, Staffan Andersson & Johan Eriksson (2022) “Democracy and Technocracy in Sweden’s Experience of the Covid-19 Pandemic”, Frontiers in Political Science, 9 May 2022. Open access:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2022.832518/full

Eriksson, Johan and Giampiero Giacomello (2022) “Cyberspace in Space: Fragmentation, Vulnerability, and Uncertainty”, in The Politics of Cyber Security: Socio-Technological Transformations and Political Fragmentation, edited by Myriam Dunn-Cavelty and Andreas Wenger, Chapter 7, pp. 95-107. Routledge.

Eriksson, Johan and Roman Privalov (2021) “Russian Space Policy and Identity: Visionary or Reactionary?”, Journal of International Relations and Development, 24(2): 381-407.

Eriksson, Johan & Lindy M. Newlove-Eriksson (2021) “Theorizing Technology and International Relations: Prevailing Perspectives and New Horizons”, Ch. 1, pp. 1-21 in Technology and International Relations: The New Frontier in Global Power, edited by G. Giacomello et al. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Newlove-Eriksson, Lindy and Johan Eriksson (2021) “Technological megashift and the EU: threats, vulnerabilities and fragmentation of responsibility”, in The EU and the Technology Shift, edited by A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt et al. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eriksson, Johan (2021) "Konstruktivism", kapitel 6 i Internationella relationer, red. Jakob Gustavsson och Jonas Tallberg, 4.e upplagan, ss. 121-138. Studentlitteratur.

Eriksson, Johan (2020) “Sweden: Small State, Middle Power or Moral Superpower?”, Ch. 9 in Middle Powers in Asia and Europe in the 21st Century, edited by Bertjan Veerbek and Giampiero Giacomello. Rowman & Littlefield.

Eriksson, Johan (2020) “Threat framing”, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics: Crisis Analysis, edited by Eric K. Stern. Oxford University Press.

Eriksson, Johan and Lindy Newlove-Eriksson (2020) ”EU och det teknologiska megaskiftet: Hot, sårbarhet och fragmenterat ansvar”, in EU och det teknologiska skiftet: Europaperspektiv 2020, edited by A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, A Michalski and L. Oxelheim, pp. 35-61. Santérus förlag. Available here External link, opens in new window..

Eriksson, Johan & Gunilla Reischl (2019) “Worlds Apart, Worlds Together: Converging and Diverging Frames in Climate and Energy Governance”, Globalizations, 16(1): 67-82.

Demirel, Cağla and Johan Eriksson (2019) “Competitive Victimhood and Reconciliation: The Case of Turkish-Armenian Relations”, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 27(5): 537-556.

Newlove-Eriksson, Lindy, Giampiero Giacomello & Johan Eriksson (2018) “The Invisible Hand? Critical Information Infrastructures, Commercialization and National Security”, International Spectator, 53(2): 124-140.