Culture wars? The (re)politicization of Swedish cultural policy

ABSTRACT

Swedish cultural policy has long been characterized by broad political consensus, partially because it has only drawn very limited attention as an arena for political conflict. There are now indications that consensus around the Swedish model of cultural policy is breaking down. This article explores current criticism of cultural policy in Sweden from the established centre-right, and the populist right. As new political divisions are becoming increasingly important, cultural policy becomes a contested area, including a number of symbolically critical issues, e.g. multiculturalism, controversial modern art, and political influence on arts and culture. In current debates, the arm’s length principle is still widely supported in both, the centre-right, and the centre-left, but the centre-right is increasingly viewing current centre-left cultural policies as politicizing. The nationalist-populist Sweden Democrats stand out in their explicit focus on social cohesion based on Swedish cultural identity, and lower regard for the arm’s length principle.

KEYWORDS:

• populism
• cultural policy
• arm’s length principle
• culture wars
• Nordic cultural policy model
• Sweden Democrats

Notes

1 The description of Sweden Democrat cultural policy is based on their election platform for the election of 2018 (SD, 2018), their statutes (SD, 2019), the action program for the local coalition in Sölvesborg Municipality (2019), and press statements included in the study of centre-right newspapers outlined above.

2 For a discussion of the official positions of established Swedish political parties on cultural policy, see Frenander (2014); Harding (2007). Concerning centre-right parties, see Harding (2015b).

3 These institutes are funded via the budget for education and research policy.

4 The Facebook page “Rädda medelhavsinstituten” (Eng. “Save the Mediterranean Institutes”) still exists at the time of writing (“https://www.facebook.com/medelhavsgate/”, retrieved 30 April 2020).

5 Quotes from sources in Swedish have been translated by the author of this article.

6 The Facebook page “Rädda Myndigheten för kulturanalys!” (Eng. “Save the Swedish Agency for Cultural Analysis”) still exists at the time of writing (https://www.facebook.com/groups/716440468443801, retrieved 20 May 2020).

7 Facebook pages: “Rädda Östasiatiska museet” (Eng. “Save the Museum of Mediterranean and Near-Eastern Antiquities”), and “Rädda Medelhavsmuseet” (Eng. “Save the Museum of Far-Eastern Antiquities”), the first of which still exists at the time of writing (https://www.facebook.com/raddaostasiatiska/, retrieved 30 April 2020).

8 The European Conservatives and Reformists also include e.g. the Polish Law and Justice Party, the Spanish party Vox, Brothers of Italy, and (until Brexit) the British Conservative Party.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tobias Harding

Tobias Harding, PhD, Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of South-Eastern Norway, is a recognized expert on Swedish and Nordic cultural policy. He has written extensively on the formation and institutionalization of national identity, secular modernity, Bildung, and cultural heritage in the context of cultural policy and in the field of adult education. Harding is part of the advisory council of the Swedish Agency for Cultural Policy Analysis, and is a docent in cultural policy at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.