This study compares textbooks in social studies for upper secondary school with Swedish foreign and security policy since the time from the middle of the 1990s until the late 2010s. The aim of the study is to compare the two and show if and how textbooks are influenced by foreign and security policy as declared by Swedish governments in their annual foreign policy declarations. The analysis is made from different perspectives on textbooks and their function regarding authority. The results of the study show that the textbooks are both influenced by the foreign and security policy and at the same time they can also, at times, be said to be quite independent.