Annie Lööf and Göran Hägglund spoke to students

A packed auditorium and hopeful students awaited the two former politicians Annie Lööf and Göran Hägglund when they came to Jönköping University (JU) to give a lecture on political communication to students from the School of Education and Communication (HLK) on 17 December.

“Being authentic and true to your own values is important, it creates a clear direction about the way forward,” says Annie Lööf.

Göran Hägglund and Annie Lööf visited students from the course Media, Politics and Society. Julia Björkbrant Liljekvist was looking forward to the lecture.

“It's great that real politicians are coming so that you get some inside information,” she says.

Erik Lindfelt, teacher on the course and journalist, thinks it is important to have people from outside the academy as guest lecturers, which is why the course has had several external guest lecturers, including from other parties, organizations and international universities. The lectures have covered topics such as political lobbying and political advertising.

“It's important that we get people who have practical experience from different organizations. Annie Lööf and Göran Hägglund have long professional experience in politics, among other things, and have local connections, so it felt natural to invite them,” he says.

Political communication that reaches out

The theme of the lecture was political communication, and both former politicians shared anecdotes from their time as politicians in the Swedish parliament (in Swedish: Riksdag), as well as giving the students a few tips on how to become better at communicating effectively. Among other things, Annie Lööf emphasized how important it is that all communication and leadership comes from the heart.

“Being authentic is crucial for both getting your message across and for leading an organization or a group. I think it is good that the university invites different actors to the lectures, both business and we former politicians. When there's time, I like to inspire people and tell them how I worked with media and communication,” she says.

Both Annie Lööf and Göran Hägglund have clear links to Jönköping and JU. Annie Lööf is a member of the JU Foundation Governing Board and on this particular day she had also attended a board meeting and visited the Student Health Care together with the board. For over sixteen years, Annie Lööf represented Jönköping County in the Riksdag. She was also party leader of the Centre Party from 2011 to 2023 and Minister for Enterprise in the Reinfeldt government from 2011 to 2014.

Mutual exchange and inspiration

Göran Hägglund has also been a member of the JU Foundation Governing Board and is a long-time resident of Jönköping. He was a member of parliament for the Christian Democrats from 1991 to 2015, Minister for Social Affairs from 2006 to 2014, and party leader from 2004 to 2015.

Both Göran and Annie have lectured to students at MKV before, but this is the first time they have appeared together.

Göran Hägglund thinks it is important to de-dramatize what it means to be a politician and wants to give students an understanding that politicians are actually ordinary people who spend a lot of time trying to improve society.

“I think it's fun to have a dialogue with the students and connect with what they are currently reading and perhaps thinking about. I also take new thoughts and ideas with me from here,” he says.

The lecture ended with an open question and answer session where the students had questions about the challenges of political communication.

“They asked a lot of good questions, so I hope they enjoyed the time together as much as I did,” says Annie.