The State as Cultural Practice

The participation myth

“…The findings from empirical research support the theory that widening the range of voices involved in decision making can be a valuable learning experience for those involved (Bevir and Rhodes, 2010), but there is little evidence that this is able to challenge the status quo in the broader arts sector. The resistance to change, from parts of the arts sector, coupled with an approach to decision making which ignores the unequal nature of power within decision making are the greatest barriers to increasing participation.…”

“…Participatory decision making has already been shown to take as its starting point the belief that changing the people involved in decisions would change outcomes (Bevir andRhodes, 2010, Lowndes, 1995). This assumes that people's voices are not just heard, but that they are able to assert their interests over those of others, which is at odds with the notion of the overarching power of elites (Lukes, 2005).…”

“…On the one hand Steven Lukes (2005) argues that elites will always dominate policy decisions and override weaker voices, due to the uneven distribution of power in decision making groups. This is challenged by theorists who argue that widening the range of voices involved in decision making can bring about change in policy and practice (Bevir and Rhodes, 2010).…”

“…In the arts sector, in many senses the arm's length principle has meant that the arts have always been delivered through an agency approach but the shift from a narrow range of voices from the professional arts, with a self-interest in retaining the status quo, was very different to the participatory decision making, that includes not only professionals but users, that became discourse elsewhere in public policy (Brodie et al, 2009). Such changes in the decision making unit have been argued can bring about change in policy and practice, and militate against the power of a cultural elite (Bevir and Rhodes, 2010).…”

Designing Prostitution Policy : Intention and Reality in Regulating the Sex Trade

“…However, every now and then actors face a disruption of their routines. How they react to such dislocations always contains an element of contingency (Bevir and Rhodes, 2010). For example, if we take the agency of actors seriously, it is likely that policy acts both as a reaction to, and as a mediating force between, political-economic shifts and changes in the nature, composition and location of the sex trade.…”