Jämlikhet, frihet och kulturell mångfald - en studie om normativa ideal och kulturella rättigheter i offentliga utredningar
ValuesCultural rightsNormative theorySwedish politicsMulticultural policyPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
To create fair conditions between the majority and minorities in a cultural diverse society poses a challenge for both the makers of government policy and the political theorist. The aim of this thesis is to examine the Swedish government official reports concerning integration and minority rights, with a special interest in values and cultural rights. As a methodological tool a theoretical model that classifies cultural rights is developed and the three normative doctrines lockean libertarianism, comprehensive liberalism and multiculturalism are distinguished from the discussion about how politics ought to be in a multicultural society. Through this perspective rights and values in the official reports are identified and analyzed. The result shows three different standpoints in the reports concerning which cultural minority group they are discussing. Regarding immigrants they are close to the liberal point of view and justifies only equally individual rights. For national minorities the standpoints in the reports are between liberalism and multiculturalism when they want to give the group a symbolic recognition together with equally individual rights for it's members. Concerning the indigenous population, the Saami, official reports incline to a multicultural position and give reason for justifying particular cultural group rights. The concluding remark in this thesis includes a critique of the lack of uniformity between different reports regarding multicultural policies.