The Cultural Politics Of Europe

Culture is one of the most complex and contested fields of European integration. This book analyzes EU cultural politics since their emergence in the 1980s with a particular focus on the European Capital of Culture program, the flagship of EU cultural policy. It discusses both the central as well as local levels and contextualizes EU policies with programmes of other European organisations, such as the Council of Europe. By asking what "Europe" actually means for European cultural policy, the book goes beyond the confines of official organizations and the political sphere, to discuss the contribution, impact and appropriation among a more diverse group of actors and participants, such as transnational experts, local bureaucrats, cultural managers, urban dwellers and the visitors. Its principal aim is to debunk the myth of Brussels as the centre of cultural Europeanization. Instead, it argues that European cultural policy has to be seen as a relational, multi-directional movement, involving a wide variety of stakeholders and leading to conflicts and collaborations at various levels. This book combines the perspectives of political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and historians, at the intersection between EU, urban, and cultural studies, and changes our understanding of ‘Europeanization’ by opening up new empirical and conceptual avenues. Challenging the dominant interpretation of European cultural policies, The Cultural Politics of Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of European studies, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, historians and cultural studies.

The development of the European Union has been one of the most profound advances in European politics and society this century. Yet the institutions of Europe and the 'Eurocrats' who work in them have constantly attracted negative publicity, culminating in the mass resignation of the European Commissioners in March 1999. In this revealing study, Cris Shore scrutinises the process of European integration using the techniques of anthropology, and drawing on thought from across the social sciences. Using the findings of numerous interviews with EU employees, he reveals that there is not just a subculture of corruption within the institutions of Europe, but that their problems are largely a result of the way the EU itself is constituted and run. He argues that European integration has largely failed in bringing about anything but an ever-closer integration of the technical, political and financial elites of Europe - at the expense of its ordinary citizens. This critical anthropology of European integration is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the culture and politics of the EU.

The present volume assembles essays from a broad cultural and professional spectrum around the question of European cultural identity. The heterogeneity of the contributors -- their differing points of departure and methods -- attests to a tension in intellectual communities which today is more intense than ever. Europe's identity crisis is not merely an empirical matter. It reflects a far deeper, and far older, discursive crisis. The mandate of Europe's traditional intellectual institutions to preserve and police their own cultural heritage has proved incapable of evolving in a manner sufficient to account for the mutation in its object: European culture. It is not merely that Europe's identity, like any identity in the flux of history, has changed. Rather, the notion of identity, the very basis of any questions of who we are, where we are going, and the appropriate political forms and social institutions for further existence, all rely on a logic of identity which has, at best, become extremely problematic. It is this problematization which provides the common thread unifying the following essays. Each contributor, in his/her own way and with respect to his/her own research object, confronts the adequacy of the concept of cultural identity. The hidden presuppositions of this concept are indeed remarkable, and the logic of cultural identity prescribes that they remain undisclosed.

Culture is one of the most complex and contested fields of European integration. This book analyzes EU cultural politics since their emergence in the 1980s with a particular focus on the European Capital of Culture program, the flagship of EU cultural policy. It discusses both the central as well as local levels and contextualizes EU policies with programmes of other European organisations, such as the Council of Europe. By asking what "Europe" actually means for European cultural policy, the book goes beyond the confines of official organizations and the political sphere, to discuss the contribution, impact and appropriation among a more diverse group of actors and participants, such as transnational experts, local bureaucrats, cultural managers, urban dwellers and the visitors. Its principal aim is to debunk the myth of Brussels as the centre of cultural Europeanization. Instead, it argues that European cultural policy has to be seen as a relational, multi-directional movement, involving a wide variety of stakeholders and leading to conflicts and collaborations at various levels. This book combines the perspectives of political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and historians, at the intersection between EU, urban, and cultural studies, and changes our understanding of ‘Europeanization’ by opening up new empirical and conceptual avenues. Challenging the dominant interpretation of European cultural policies, The Cultural Politics of Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of European studies, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, historians and cultural studies.

This book is a first sustained effort to render an understanding of Maltese history, especially that of the 1920s and 1930s, from an Italian as well as a British (and naturally a Maltese) perspective. The British National Archives, as the Public Record Office at Kew has come to be known, is a superbly well-organised and relatively easily accessible power-house, where to work is a delight. However, the author was fortunate to have been given permission by Sig. Giulio Andreotti, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, to gain full access to the "Fascist" archive at Palazzo della Farnesina in Rome. When going through the stacks of documents in the late 1980s and early 1990s, its Malta sections clearly had been largely untouched, given the amount of rusty and firmly stuck paper clips and one or two vitally revealing sealed envelopes that he had to deal with, sometimes misleadingly indexed or unindexed. It brought back some memories of earlier delving into hitherto barely looked at papers or enclosures, including photographs, in the 1970s in Portugal Street (before Kew existed), with regard to an earlier period. Given the pivotal role played by Italy no less than by Britain in Malta's modern history, a rendering of Maltese history only or mainly from British sources is unbalanced and does not do it full justice. This is also true the other way round, more so when access to Maltese, English or even French sources is limited for reasons of language or otherwise. Improved Internet access to journal articles and other published sources, recently also made available to members of the academic corps and other researchers by the University of Malta Library, should help lessen breakdowns in communication, naturally always depending on linguistic competences and the right keywords.

This work sees the 20th century as a long century, and focuses on the crucial political events of the century. While it gives attention to the high level of violence in Europe, it weaves into the themes the struggle for hegemony, the establishment of common economic and political institutions, and the advance of science. A bibliographical essay in each chapter allows the readers to expand on issues discussed in the text.

"What do Europeans have in common apart from the rights and duties deriving from the treaties? Is there such a thing as 'Europeanness' in the sense of a common identity? Can rights serve as a unifying factor in the new ED of 27 member states? And what are the sources of human identity as such?" "This book addresses these topical issues through a combination of theoretical and philosophical enquiry and empirical analysis. The nature of Political Man is investigated, as well as the sources of identity. The author argues in favour of a broad conception of political rationality and develops a new individualistic approach to the study of identity and culture summarized in the formulation "culture is choice - and choice is culture". The notion that culture and identity are holistic phenomena, something that citizens have to accept as a kind of destiny, is challenged, because with the exception of gender, identity and culture are very much chosen. While the existing literature tends to define culture in terms of customs and habits, the author argues that the emphasis ought to be shifted towards subjective meanings and tastes (broadly defined). But choice is also culture in the sense that humans are cultural beings With cultural needs and the simplistic notions of rational choice and globalization, which assume that human beings are utility maximizers in a narrow, materialistic sense, must therefore be abandoned. From this perspective European identity suddenly looks quite solid: It is based on a variety of sources of identity, and some of the strongest sources of identity are immaterial and cultural. There is such a thing as a cultural community of distance; a sharing of outlook, memories and not least aesthetic experiences."--BOOK JACKET.

Dieser Band ist Alexander Stephan gewidmet und spiegelt dessen wissenschaftliche Interessengebiete und Leistungen wider. Das Buch enthält Aufsätze von führenden Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern zur Politik und Kultur deutsch-amerikanischer Beziehungen sowie zur Tradition der Kulturvermittlung. Die Themen reichen von der aktuellen Politik, Kulturdiplomatie und Amerikanisierung bis zur historischen Auseinandersetzung mit mitteleuropäischen Künstlern und Schriftstellern, die als Intellektuelle einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf die Kulturpolitik der 20er Jahre und auf die Zeit nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg ausübten. This volume reflects the scholarly interests and achievements of Alexander Stephan in whose honor it was conceived. The book presents essays by leading international scholars on the contours of politics and culture in German-American relations as well as broader traditions of cultural mediation. Topics range from current concerns about public policy and cultural diplomacy, Americanization and anti-Americanism to historical considerations of Central European artists and writers who as public intellectuals had significant impact on the politics of culture after World War Two and earlier.

Political entities use culture to support their soft power potential, to generate goodwill, to frame international agenda in particular ways, to erect and re-enact boundaries and/or to create societal linkages across them. While the importance of culture has been on the rise in the realm of foreign affairs, its role in this field remains one of the most under-studied aspects of state policy. In this book, a range of international experts take an unprecedented look at what role external cultural policy plays in foreign affairs. The book features historical case studies ranging from European 'civilizing' engagement with nineteenth-century China to uses of Abstract Expressionism as an instrument in the ideological struggles of the Cold War. Conceptual issues ranging from the dynamics of the 'Anglosphere' to the effects of what some term the 'culture of liberal democracy' are addressed. Current trends in the uses of culture in the EU's external relations both from the perspective of institutional developments, policies and practices in the EU and from the perspective of countries engaged by the EU's cultural policies are also discussed in greater detail. The systematic, theoretically informed and empirically supported analyses make this book an indispensable read for scholars and policy makers wishing to gain a new understanding of the role that culture plays in foreign affairs.

The Cultural Politics of European Prostitution Reform traces case studies of four European Union countries to reveal the way anxieties over globalization translates into policies to recognize sex workers in some countries, punish prostitutes' clients in others, and protect victims of human trafficking in them all.