With this paper, we aim to instigate a discussion on the relevance of existing models and classifications in cultural policy research when wanting to explore regional cultural policy in Sweden. We assess the models and classifications that we deem to be most influential in English-speaking cultural policy research and find that although they have many benefits, they are not fully adequate when wanting to understand place-specific aspects and variation in regional cultural policy. We then move on to presenting findings from our own studies on Swedish regional cultural policy that make this critique relevant. We conclude with identifying the need not only for middle-range theories that are more apt when exploring local variation, but also for more empirical studies that from a comparative perspective can contribute to in-depth knowledge of the internal power structures of the cultural policy field.