The very model for Sweden’s military: “Top‐down” only

Sweden, in common with all western nations, has paid considerable attention to the issue of selecting and developing its military leaders. Last year, the Swedish armed forces decided to introduce a new system of evaluation because it felt that there were weaknesses and limitations in previous models. A number of problem areas had been identified, included ambiguities in the results and limitations imposed by a “top‐down” approach to leader evaluation – the system by which the only assessments were those of officers at higher levels rating those of lower ranking.