A Culture War in Swedish Politics? : Cultural policy discourse from a perspective of securitisation theory

Abstract: Relating to issues of democracy and security, the thesis examines suggested parallels inSwedish politics to the culture war phenomenon in the United States. Are there signs of asimilar development in Sweden? By examining political rhetoric by the political parties in theRiksdag, the aim is to find out how the parties relate to the concept of culture, what purposecultural policy should have and whether there are indications of securitisation in the discourseand potential implications for cultural polarisation. Utilising a theoretical frameworkconsisting of discourse theory and securitisation theory, various party programs andparliamentary documents are analysed with a focus on comparing discursive articulations,with a starting point in the ideological positioning around the creation of a culture canon. Thefindings show that the parties are divided in how they view culture along three differentscales, with several parties expressing securitising tendencies. Discursive polarisation isapparent in the material, with one party in particular articulated as a threat to the survival ofSwedish culture. Increasing polarisation in cultural rhetoric may lead to a culture war, thoughno such phenomenon is found at the moment in the current political discourse.