In the interval from the mid-1970s and through the 1980s, Australia and Sweden developed quite progressive multicultural and multilingual policies.1 The purpose of this chapter is to outline some of the background for these progressive policies and to see how language policy in both countries has been formulated, carried out and subsequently changed since these policies were initiated. These developments will be viewed with several global changes as a backdrop. One is economic globalization, which has accelerated since the break-up of the Soviet Union and the East bloc beginning in 1989. Another important development is regionalization, such as (for Sweden) the expansion and strengthening of the European Union (EU), and (for Australia) greater economic interests in trade with regional partners in Asia. A third development which has some bearing on my discussion is the apparent weakening of the nation state and of nationalism as a viable political ideology (Billig, 1995; May, 2001; Oakes, 2001; Hegelund, 2002). My purpose is to see how these sweeping changes in global economics, politics and ideas have impacted the progressive language policy developed in Sweden and in Australia prior to the acceleration of these changes during the 1990s and after. My aim is to look not only at official, explicit policy, but also to take a critical look at how different groups in each society think and write about language and language diversity as well.
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