Fri kultur under statlig styrning – kulturpolitikens balansgång : En kvalitativ studie av svensk kulturpolitik från 1974 till idag

This study investigates the relationship between political control and the independence of the culture and how it has changed over time, with four different timestamps in the cultural policy from 1974 until today. The material used for the historical aspect is three governance bills within Swedish cultural policy. Since there are no new bills since 2009, other types of government documents have been analysed. These are committee directives, government assignments, national strategies and regulation letters. The study is a qualitative text analysis based on the dimensions of political control and the independence of the culture, with the framework of the four cultural policy models of Hillman Chartrand and McCaughey. The analysis reflects how Sweden has taken a step from the architect and patron model, to also indicate values from facilitator and engineering models. The results reveal a change in the view of political control and independence. One notable change over time is the transition from the distance to commercialism because of it´s threat against freedom, to the idea that the market contributes to an independent culture sector. In this way, political control diminishes. Which is also shown through the increased decentralisation. Another interesting finding is the comeback of national values. The cultural policy is under constant negotiation, which is why the balance between political control and the independence of the culture always will be present in the cultural policy.