This Masters Thesis is about the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the arms length principle. The principle is used to explain the separation of power between two parts with a common interest. The main purpose is to elucidate if, and if so in what way, the arms length principle can be used to explain the relation between the National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture, i.e. the Swedish government, but also to examine the structures of power and relations within the Council. In the thesis we show that in the field of cultural policy the content of the arm lengths principle varies due to the many interpretations of the meaning. From these results we find three areas to analyze. They are the Councils tasks, the organization of the board and other structures in the Council and finally the budget process. The areas of investigation are the aspects of distance or closeness trough formal- and informal influence, and through aspects of political control or independence. This is done with Olof Peterssons method constructed to analyze power between and within institutions. The theoretical framework is found in Jørn Langsteds definition of arms length principle and Harry Hillman-Chartrand and Claire McCaugheys typology of state support for the arts and culture. The main conclusion is that the arms length principle is a useful tool to describe the relations between the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture. But, mainly for particular areas and aspects of power relations and not as an overall explanation. The Councils position can be described as being in the middle on the scale between political autonomy and state control. Finally, we argue that the principle is best manifested in the Council itself through "reciprocal power relations" that the representatives of Cultural life and state political power confronts.