Transforming cultural policy in Eastern Europe: the endless frontier

Abstract

The key premise for this special issue is that Eastern Europe is not what it used to be: Cold War notions of the fundamental distinction between East and West do not hold anymore as analytical concepts indicating separate political, social and cultural systems. Examining key developments in state cultural policies in selected East European countries, the articles in this special issue respond to the call to de-orientalise East European studies by analysing the complexity of post-communist evolutionary pathways as they diverge into hybrid autocratic regimes and consolidated (neo)liberal democracies. Sharing the conceptual framework of new institutionalist approach to social change, the contributions in this special issue present detailed analyses of empirical case studies contextualising them in the local historiography of cultural policy studies.1 This definition of cultural policy has informed the rationale for The International Journal of Cultural Policy: 'Cultural policy is understood as the promotion or disparagement of particular cultural practices and values. This conception of cultural policy encompasses a broad view of both 'culture' and 'policy'. On the one hand, 'culture' may be taken to refer to systems or clusters of attitudes, values and behaviours, along with the symbolic practices that maintain or support them. On the other, it may refer more narrowly to products of the arts, heritage and creative and media industries. 'Policy' may be considered as programmatic sets of ideas or plans of action pursued by any agency' (IJCP n.d.

The Transformation of the Romanian Economy Through Privatization and Internationalization

“…We propose that "informal institutions" such as culture, habits, and daily practices must complement "formal institutions" like laws, directives, and regime change to transition successfully. We further argue that multinational corporations (MNC) originating in developed economies with a proven track record, although far from perfect, are ideally positioned to implement these new institutions in post-transitional economies such as Romania (Hansen and Rugraff, 2011;Rindzevičiūtė, 2021).…”

“…We chose the longitudinal case study method as a research method, which provides a unique window into "a system of interest with its structure, dynamics, pathologies, and promise" (Aligica and Tarko, 2014). It enriches and generalizes the theory by combining theoretical knowledge with practical observations (Yin, 1994;Rindzevičiūtė, 2021). Case studies are used for the discovery, describing and mapping of relationships, but they may also be used for theory testing (Woodside and Wilson, 2003;Gummesson, 2005), theory illustration (Siggelkow, 2007), hypothesis development (Tellis, 1997), prediction (Woodside and Wilson, 2003) and the identification of further research requirements (Siggelkow, 2007).…”

AI, a wicked problem for cultural policy? Pre-empting controversy and the crisis of cultural participation

“…The sculptures, being property of the Ministry of Culture, were either put in storage or leased to museums, such as Grūtas park of Soviet statues. This process of de-Sovietisation entailed heated debates about an appropriate way of preserving the material culture of Soviet history, its interpretation in historical narratives and sensitive presentation for the public (Goštautaitė 2020;Rindzevičiūtė 2021a, Trilupaitytė 2021. Reflecting on this highly polarised debate about the public value of the Soviet material culture, artists Eglė Grėbliauskaitė and Agnė Gintalaitė applied to Vilnius city council for permission to organise a street performance involving the Cvirka monument in September 2021.…”