The end of the world had arrived, and Nils was convinced he was going to die, alone in his small apartment. He was brooding over the possible reasons behind the "catastrophe" that appeared to have struck Sweden. His sister, Wilma, was looking after their little brother, Leo, who was suffering a severe asthma attack. It was proving impossible to find anything with which to treat him. A massive computer breakdown had brought the country to a halt. The pharmacy no longer had access to its stock, supermarkets were no longer taking credit cards, and trains were at a standstill... In their car that had been transformed into a sauna, Ali and Dejan killed time by playing on their phones, until they ran out of batteries. Then they realized that they had nothing left to eat or drink.

This apocalyptic scenario is from the short novel Klara, färdiga ("On Your Mark, Get Set," perusable here in pdf format). At the beginning of November, for the second year in a row, the book was sent by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB, which coordinates civilian defense efforts) to 122,000 young Swedes who had reached the age of 16. It was accompanied by a letter, written in Swedish, English, and Arabic, informing them that they – and all of their compatriots between the ages of 16 to 70 – make up the country's "total defense." "This means that we all have to do our part in the event of the threat of war or conflict (...) including young people," the missive stated.

This obligation has been enshrined in law since 1995, but the doctrine of total defense was born long before that, during the Cold War. Sweden understood that, if faced with the threat of an all-out war, it had to be able to mobilize not only its army but also its population: "In order for society to continue to function, everyone has to contribute," said Christin Thörnvall, who spearheaded the civil defense campaign. By law, therefore, "in the event of war or the threat of war, if the government raises the alert level, then all men and women between the ages of 16 and 70 are obliged to participate in the defense of the country," said Thörnvall.

For some years following the implosion of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, however, Sweden placed its hopes on a lasting peace. It suspended military service, closed barracks, and turned its bomb shelters into bicycle sheds. Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 was a wake-up call: The draft was reinstated, the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea remilitarized and total defense was toput back on the agenda.

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