The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the will to defend and variables indicating social cohesion in society. In several contexts, these variables are assumed to influence the will to defend, not least in influential documents in the field of total defence. More specifically, the relationship is examined between the will to defend and trust in Swedish authorities, trust in Swedish politicians, the perceived satisfaction with Swedish democracy and the expected preparedness in Sweden to deal with a military attack (which in this study is seen as a form of trust in total defence as such). The will to defend is studied from three different perspectives, namely as the opinion that Sweden as a country should offer armed resistance in the event of a military attack (general will to defend), as well as in the sense of an individuals own willingness to participate in the defence in either a combatant or non-combatant role, in both cases with danger to one's own life (personal will to defend). The study's results rest on data from an extensive survey carried out by Statistics Sweden (SCB) on behalf of the Swedish Defence Research Institute. To examine the relationship between the different forms of will to defend and said variables, various statistical methods are used (bivariate z-tests and bi- and multivariate ordinal logistic regression). The study's main conclusion is that the connection between the will to defend and social cohesion is not as strong as is often assumed. Identified statistically significant correlations appear surprisingly few against the background of statements that have been made numerous times, as mentioned above. Even when there are correlations that are significant in a purely statistical sense, they often appear to be practically non-significant, as the differences in will to defend between different groups are quite small (sometimes very small).