Det nationella identitetsbyggandets gränser : En liberal nationalistisk tolkning av slöjförbud i grundskolan och förbud mot böneutrop

Sammanfattning: On what grounds and in which spheres can a liberal state build and defend a national identity? Where should the line in regards to nation-building be drawn before it interferes with private life and/or are no longer consistent with liberal ideals? This papper examines these questions in regard to two different policy proposals, (1) veil bans in school and (2) bans against different forms of call- to-prayer, and their compatibility with liberal nationalism. The premiss is that these policies are motivated and have been emphasized as a way to defend the national identity, more precisely the Swedish identity. The normative reliability in the policies underlying arguments have been examined in contrast to Lenards (2020) categories for a national identity compatible with a liberal state. The results show that liberal nationalism can not accept veil ban in schools, as a way to uphold the national identity, due to the act of veiling being a part of ones privat culture and therefore must stay beyond political interventions. Bans against different forms of call-to-prayer, as a way to preserve the national identity, are not either compatible with liberal nationalism. Not because it symbolizes a private act but because the content of the public culture must change as new cultural and religious influences enters the nation. Taken together, these understandings have broaden the theoretical debate around the possible substance of a public and cultural identity. Empirically it has contributed to a liberal nationalistic answer to the current political and medial debate on national identity and questions in regards to cultural- and religious practices.