The governmentality and accountability of UK national museums and art galleries

Abstract

This study furthers our understanding of the role of governmentality mechanisms in relation to other-forming and self-forming accounts of art organisations, by using empirical data collected from interviews with senior managers of UK national museums and art galleries (MAGs) and from secondary published sources. The findings highlight how governmentality mechanisms had power-effects through the creation of knowledge about MAGs and the resistance strategies of MAGs. Whilst the governmentality mechanisms were expected to ensure the automatic functioning of disciplinary power, in some instances the government directly intervened to over-ride decisions taken by senior managers when these conflicted with political imperatives.

Keywords:

• Governmentality
• Accountability
• Performance
• UK
• Museums
• Art galleries
• Public sector

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge with thanks the insights provided by Professor Christopher Napier on Foucault’s work, the participation of the interviewees in this research project, and the comments made by the anonymous reviewers.