Cultural policy and democracy: an introduction

Abstract

Departing from reflections on the terrorist attack in Oslo 22 July 2011 as an attack on democracy as a political system, the author discusses the premise for the special issue on 'Cultural Policy and Democracy' of the International Journal of Cultural Policy. Then follows a short presentation of the transition from autocracy to liberal democracy and different models of cultural policy within the frames of liberal democracies. Four principal democratic dimensions of cultural policy are defined and discussed, and the article ends with a short editorial comment to all other articles published in this issue.Oslo 22 July 2011: a terrorist attack on democracy On 22 July 2011, Norway was struck by a terrorist attack on the government quarters in Oslo. A huge bomb caused damage to many buildings in the centre of Oslo and seven civil servants at work in the government buildings were killed. Shortly after the explosion, the terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, went directly to a summer camp outside Oslo where hundreds of young people from the youth organisation of the Norwegian Labour Party were gathered. The mass murderer killed 70 young people with a gun in the camp before he was stopped by the police.In a manifest he had published on the internet, the terrorist revealed that he was strongly influenced by right-wing nationalism and by right-wing anti-Islamic quarters in several European countries. He argued that for political and ideological reasons it was necessary to massacre all these people and he said that what he wanted was to strike the political system and the party that was responsible for multicultural Norway, which he said was a catastrophe for the country and Europe. In the trial that followed in spring 2012, he repeated these arguments, and the only thing he regretted was that he did not kill more young people. The bombing of the government quarters and the shooting of young political activists were meant to be symbolic actions because the victims represented a political system that the terrorist hated. This tragic event was evidently an attack on democracy as a political system. The terrorist wanted to create and spread fear among Norwegian citizens and also among citizens of other western countries with Islamic immigrants.After the attack the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, declared that this was an attack on the open, democratic society. He also said that this terrible *

Cultural Policy in an Illiberal State

“…Cultural policy then expresses a relationship between a political system and the cultural field (Vestheim, 2012a). In other words, cultural policy is an overlapping zone between the fields of culture and politics (Vestheim, 2012b), which is structurally conflict-ridden because of the different logic and interests of the two fields.…”

Life in a World Heritage City : A case study of discussions and contested values in Angra do Heroísmo, the Azores

“…This case also accentuates the impact and powers of the inhabitants in terms of affecting city planning and preservation (Vestheim, 2012). As a citizen in a democratic society, the politicians who are given legitimacy through the citizens' votes "needed" to take the petition into account, and her case was accordingly treated by the Azorean assembly.…”

“…Additionally, they have the power to choose whether to adhere to the preservation guidelines or not. However, they do not possess any legitimate power other than common public privileges in a liberal democracy (Vestheim, 2012). The cultural heritage management or the antiquarian field has such a legitimate power and holds the ideals in heritage preservation.…”

“…I would further claim that it also became a problem that the local politicians in Angra do Heroísmo found themselves in "the hands of the experts" (Vestheim, 2012), who operated the Conservation Office and performed the cultural heritage policies outside their control. This may be an explanation as to why they wanted the management to be transferred to the municipality.…”

“…Some of Smith's theories will be used in order to understand the dynamic forces of the stakeholders, as well as their authorities, values and power relations. However, other works in regard to the uses of heritage are applicable, such as the works of Peter Aronsson (2004), Geir Vestheim (2008Vestheim ( , 2012, Rodney Harrison (2013) and David Lowenthal (1994. However, these will further be elaborated, in addition to more relevant theories and theorists in Chapter 2, in which the current state of World Heritage research and the most relevant works in regards to this study will be presented and discussed.…”