In this article, we regard inclusive education as a policy phenomenon that contains a range ofideas about the purpose of education, the content of education and the organization ofeducation. As a political ideal expressed in policy, inclusive education competes with otherpolitical ideals regarding education, for instance economic discourses that prioritize effectivityand attainment as educational goals. Thus, inclusive education has to be realized in contextswhere available options for action are restricted by several and often contradictory educationalpolicies on different levels of the education system. We argue that while research anddebate about inclusive education are important, both are insufficient without analyses of thecontext of national educational policy. Any interpretation of inclusive education is necessarilysituated in a general education policy, and measures of what˜inclusive schools" aredependent upon for instance, political interpretation(s) of inclusive education, resourceallocation and political discourse on both local and national educational level. Here, we willprovide support for this argument through presentation of both research on inclusiveeducation, an alignment of prior analyses of Swedish national education policies and ourown analyses of government statements.