Statliga lobbyorganisationer? Diskussionen om opinionsbildande myndigheter tolkad utifrån en informationspolitisk kontext
OpinionsbildningInformationspolitikLobbyingMyndighetIdeologiska statsapparaterPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
During the last years a discussion has emerged around problems with Swedish state boards trying to influence the public opinion and even political bodies through different kind of information efforts. Several observers inside and outside the academy have studied how state boards increasingly use information as an instrument and also how political bodies increasingly have given such instructions to state boards. This essay put those studies into the context of both information political history and previous theoretical interpretations in that field of research.The analytical tool consists of four ideal typical ways ('state opinions') to arrange relations between the state and the citizen. Some critics focus on problems with too much political steering and how political majorities uses state boards to spread ideological propaganda. Others highlight problems with autonomy and bureaucratic organizations taking initiatives by themselves to spread normative information. Both perspectives share the same 'state opinion' which stresses citizen autonomy and neutrality of the state. Another result is that information politics has been an undeveloped research topic and that political scientists have considered official information to be a rather unproblematic and positive mean to create democratically enlightened citizens. The current discourse indicates that both these descriptions should be revised.