ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Tolerance and Cultural Diversity Discourses and Practices in Sweden Hans Ingvar Roth,Fredrik Hertzberg, Ulf Mörkenstam and Andreas Gottardis, Stockholm University 2013/24 5. New Knowledge Country Synthesis Reports EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Tolerance and Cultural Diversity Discourses and Practices in Sweden HANS INGVAR ROTH, FREDRIK HERZBERG, ULF MÖRKENSTAM, ANDREAS GOTTARDIS STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY Work Package 5- New Knowledge on Tolerance and Cultural Diversity D5.1 Country Synthesis Report on Tolerance and Cultural diversity - Concepts and Practices © 2013 Hans Ingvar Roth, Fredrik Hertzberg, Ulf Mörkenstam and Andreas Gottardis This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the author(s), editor(s). If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author(s), editor(s), the title, the research project, the year and the publisher. Published by the European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Via dei Roccettini 9 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole - Italy ACCEPT PLURALISM Research Project, Tolerance, Pluralism and Social Cohesion: Responding to the Challenges of the 21st Century in Europe European Commission, DG Research Seventh Framework Programme Social Sciences and Humanities grant agreement no. 243837 www.accept-pluralism.eu www.eui.eu/RSCAS/ Available from the EUI institutional repository CADMUS cadmus.eui.eu 2 Tolerance, Pluralism and Social Cohesion: Responding to the Challenges of the 21st Century in Europe (ACCEPT PLURALISM) ACCEPT PLURALISM is a Research Project, funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Program. The project investigates whether European societies have become more or less tolerant during the past 20 years. In particular, the project aims to clarify: (a) how is tolerance defined conceptually, (b) how it is codified in norms, institutional arrangements, public policies and social practices, (c) how tolerance can be measured (whose tolerance, who is tolerated, and what if degrees of tolerance vary with reference to different minority groups). The ACCEPT PLURALISM consortium conducts original empirical research on key issues in school life and in politics that thematise different understandings and practices of tolerance. Bringing together empirical and theoretical findings, ACCEPT PLURALISM generates a State of the Art Report on Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in Europe, a Handbook on Ideas of Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in Europe, a Tolerance Indicators’ Toolkit where qualitative and quantitative indicators may be used to score each country’s performance on tolerating cultural diversity, and several academic publications (books, journal articles) on Tolerance, Pluralism and Cultural Diversity in Europe. The ACCEPT PLULARISM consortium is formed by 18 partner institutions covering 15 EU countries. The project is hosted by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and co-ordinated by Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou. The EUI, the RSCAS and the European Commission are not responsible for the opinion expressed by the author(s). Fredrik Hertzberg is senior lecturer at the Department of Education at Stockholm University. He has a PhD in Ethnology from Stockholm University. He was preciously active as researcher at the National institute of Working Life in Stockholm. His research interests include social identities and social categorizations, the politics of multiculturalism in education, school-to work transition and processes of ethnical and racial exclusion. Ulf Mörkenstam is senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University. His main fields of research are policy analysis, minority rights and political theory. He currently works on two different projects (2010-2013) on indigenous rights and political representation: Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination: The Institutional Design and Policy Process of the Swedish Sami Parliament (funded by the Swedish Riksbankens Jubileumsfond), and Globalisation and New Political Rights. The Challenges of the Rights to Inclusion, Self-Determination and Secession (funded by the Swedish Research Council). Andreas Gottardis is a PhD student at the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, writing a dissertation on Jürgen Habermas and the Frankfurt school, with the preliminary title Dialectics of Emancipation. He has worked as Research Assistant in the ACCEPT PLURALISM Project. Hans Ingvar Roth is professor of education at Stockholm University. He has written extensively on affirmative action, human rights, minority rights and multicultural education. He has also worked as professor in human rights studies at Lund University, senior advisor at the Swedish Ministry of Justice, as Human Rights Officer for OSCE in Bosnia and as secretary in the Swedish parliamentary committee on discrimination laws Contact details: Prof. Hans Ingvar Roth, Stockholm University E-mail: [email protected] 3 For more information on the Socio Economic Sciences and Humanities Programme in FP7 see: http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/index_en.htm http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/cooperation/socio- economic_en.html 4 Table of Contents Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................... 6 Key words ................................................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION: TOLERATION IN SWEDEN ............................................................. 14 1.1. National identity and state formation .............................................................................................. 17 1.2. Main cultural challenges .................................................................................................................. 20 1.3. The definition of tolerance in Sweden ............................................................................................. 32 1.4. Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 2: (IN)TOLERANCE AND RECOGNITION OF DIFFERENCE IN SWEDISH SCHOOLS. TH CASE OF ISLAMIC DENOMINATIONAL SCHOOLS AND PRACTICES OF VEILING ............ 40 2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 40 2.2. Case Study 1: Islamic independent denominational schools ........................................................... 48 2.3. Case Study 2: Burqa and Niqab in the everyday life of schools...................................................... 59 2.4. Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 3: THE SWEDISH SÁMI PARLIAMENT: A CHALLENGED RECOGNITION? .............. 76 3.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 76 3.2. Methodology.................................................................................................................................... 82 3.3. The Sami Parliament in the Swedish Press ..................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUDING REMARKS .............................................................................................. 96 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 99 5 Executive Summary In this comprehensive report we draw together the results of three studies of Swedish conceptions of acceptance, tolerance and intolerance. Chapter 1 addresses the question of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity in Sweden and portrays the ways in which the aforementioned types of diversity have been dealt with so far in this Northern European country. In doing so, the report primarily delineates the main constitutive elements of Swedish national identity (i.e. “who is considered to be Swedish”) as well as the some of the most important factors and historical conditions that have shaped the modern Swedish state. By explaining the formation of the modern Swedish state as well as the most common features of Swedish national identity, we also provide a basis for an understanding of the demarcations and limitations of Swedish citizenship. In the introductory part of the paper, we describe some key features of Sweden, migration to Sweden, Swedish official policy on recognition and tolerance, and some of the challenges of cultural diversity that Sweden has faced during recent years. In its second part, the paper focuses on the formation of the Swedish state and the development of a modern (or, rather, late-modern) Swedish national identity, and its constituents. Although the developments during modernity and late modernity are emphasized, some room is left for earlier historical course of events. The Swedish state was formed rather early, in the 11th century, but remained a rather loosely organised formation until the 16th century, when the state was consolidated. During the wars in the 17th century, a highly centralized state was developed,