Nordic cultural policies: A critical view

Abstract

I introduce my discussion on cultural policies in the Nordic countries with a brief summary of Jürgen Habermas’ views on different forms of rationality and communication in the modern world, as put forward in his seminal works The Theory of Communicative Action (1987 [1981]) and Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (1996 [1992]). Based on a previous study, Nordic Cultural Policy in Transition, I then suggest a model for analysing cultural policy, with special attention to the changes in Nordic attitudes in the period from 1960 to 2003. Finally, I discuss the above model in a critical light and attempt an assessment of its relevance in academic cultural policy research.

Keywords:

• Theories of Jürgen Habermas and cultural policy
• Nordic cultural policies in transition
• ideas and strategies in cultural policy
• instrumentalisation of arts
• culture and cultural policy

Notes

1. The Nordic Cultural Institute is an interdisciplinary institute dedicated to cultural policy research. The Institute carries out research on a project‐by‐project basis with support from cultural agencies, institutions and research committees in Denmark, the other Nordic countries and the rest of Europe. The Institute specialises in the analysis and evaluation of modern cultural policy from a comparative and international perspective. Head of research: Peter Duelund. Website: www.nordiskkulturinstitut.dk. Phone: [phone].

2. Other publications: Forchhammer (2001), Gaski and Kappfjell (2002), Lönnblad (2002), Heikkinen (2003). The books can be ordered via the Nordic cultural Institute’s web site: www.nordiskkulturinstitut.dk. In addition, other working papers and project documentation from the research project Nordic Cultural Policy under Transformation can be downloaded free, for private use. Books can also be ordered via bookstores. Distributor for bookstores is: DBK‐bog‐distribution Email: salg@dbk‐bogdistribution.dk.

3. You can read more about the project and the conferences on www.nordiskkulturinstitut.dk/dansk/english.

4. See also: Rapport om Den Europæiske Kulturministerkonference, Oslo 1976. Ministeriet for Kulturelle Anliggender, Copenhagen 1976.

5. ‘Die Einheit der Vernunft in der Vielfalt ihrer Stimmen’, originally the title of a lecture at the Fourteenth German Congress for Philosophy in 1987, now in Jürgen Habermas (1992). Here quoted from Burns and Will (2006, p. 302).