National Cultural Policies: The Swedish Case

The overall aim of this research is to describe and analyze the objectives of national cultural policy, based on the Government’s cultural policy document (the cultural proposition), and thereby learn which are the areas covered by the national cultural policy and what is the role taken by the state in relation to that expressed in the policy document. For this purpose, the following research questions were addressed: Firstly, what goals, values and intentions are expressed and provided in the policy document at national level in the selected time period; secondly, what subject areas, actors, groups and individuals are highlighted in the selected texts and time period? Textual analysis was used as method and the strategy to relate the text to the author, as the interest was in understanding the Government’s intentions. The results show that, with new opportunities, new challenges arise as do new demands. It is important that future cultural politics take into account these changes and are formed by taking advantage of the young generations’ knowledge, values and cultural expressions. This paradigm shift, that citizens, in future will be active creators of culture, rather than passive recipients, is the notion envisaged by the state in the proposition. To conclude, the state’s ambition sounds high, but what is political rhetoric and what is actually implementable cannot be answered by this study. Future research must give voice to users and creators of culture giving the answer to the question if there is a cultural policy for all citizens in all parts of the country.