Review article
From Inconsistencies to Contingencies - Understanding Policy Complexity of Novi Sad 2021 European Capital of Culture
Goran Tomka
orcid.org/0000-0001-7646-7473
; Faculty of sport and tourism TIMS, Novi Sad, Serbia
Višnja Kisić
; Faculty of sport and tourism TIMS, Novi Sad, Serbia
Abstract
The case of Novi Sad European Capital of Culture 2021 (NS2021), in which various rationales of cultural policy (local, national, supranational) thread a complex web of political interactions, brings interesting challenges to the theoretical landscape of cultural policy research. We start with the analysis of the Bidbook NS2021 as a cultural policy text, discussing its inconsistencies and ambiguities. Then we study the context and the policy process through participant observation and interviews with key authors. We find that the policy-making process is best explained as contingent - meaning that it is dependent on the historical discourses, demands of the specific policy genre, external requirements and internal pressures, and individual agencies and accidents. In the concluding section, we discuss theoretical and methodological implications that policy contingency poses to cultural policy studies.
Keywords
contingency in politics; policy complexity; cultural policy research; ECoC Bidbook; EU cultural policies
Hrčak ID:
201035
URI
Publication date:
7.6.2018.
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