LIST OF PANELS

This panel addresses the topic of cultural policy, which we define as "the range of activities that governments undertake – or do not undertake – in the arena of 'culture'" (Gray 2010, p. 222). This is a field that has several distinct and challenging peculiarities, such as the difficulty of defining its very object, but also shares many characteristics of other policy areas. With this panel we want to address both by incorporating mainstream public policy approaches into the study of an oft-neglected policy field. Papers are invited that address a range of theoretical and methodological approaches. We are also open to submissions on wide range of cultural policies, including, but not limited to, media policy, the politics of remembrance, the politics of cultural diversity, as well as cross-policy sector comparative papers. We invite submissions notably on the following topics: Institutions in cultural policy,  Institutions are a vital aspect of policy-making. We define institutions widely as not only the physical spaces in which policy is made (such as a legislature), but the socio-cultural rules and behaviours that influence policy as well. Papers are welcomed on institutional formation and design, institutional change, structure and agency, and the impact of formal and informal institutions on policy and vice versa. Ideas in cultural policy,  “Ideas” play an essential role in understanding public policy (Cairney 2012). Here we welcome papers on how political, economic, and social ideologies, norms, and values manifest themselves in policy; how ideas are treated by policy-makers; and how culture is defined and/or used in policy narratives. Networks in cultural policy, Contributions on networks are welcomed both on the "metaphorical" analysis of patterns of collaboration as well as on concrete social network analysis. We are interested in themes such as expertise, knowledge, coalition formation, the roles of specific collective or individual actors, and their resources and strategies in cultural policy-making processes.

This panel addresses the topic of cultural policy, which we define as "the range of activities that governments undertake – or do not undertake – in the arena of 'culture'" (Gray 2010, p. 222). This is a field which shares many characteristics of other policy areas, yet has many that are distinct. With this panel we want to address both by incorporating mainstream public policy approaches into the study of an oft-neglected policy field. Indeed, Political Science rarely studies cultural policy (cf. Eling 1999), unlike the recently developing interdisciplinary field of Cultural Policy Studies. This panel thus advocates for a closer collaboration of Cultural Policy Studies and Political Science, on the basis that Cultural Policy Studies has a lot to gain from the tested and tried theoretical models by which political scientists make sense of the "inherent messiness and complexity of policy-making" (John, Bertelli, Jennings and Bevan 2013, p. 112). Political Science, on the other hand, would profit from looking at the cultural sector, as it poses a series of interesting theoretical questions and challenges. Indeed, cultural policies contain, explicitly or implicitly, a definition of culture –like art, an "essentially contested concept" (Gallie 1956) – and of what type of culture or art deserves public support, and why (Becker 1982, Moulin 1992). Cultural policies can be restricted to intellectual and artistic activities and production (Mulcahy 2006, p. 265) or advocate for a more anthropological definition of culture, e.g. UNESCO's approach to culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a member of society". We thus do not define "culture" a priori, but on the contrary seek to analyze how the tensions between narrow and larger definitions can influence cultural policy debates (Wyszomirski 1982). The panel therefore approaches culture as a test case for public policy approaches. We want to achieve further dialogue bridging public policy and cultural policy, and invite papers focusing on institutions, ideas and networks in analysing government intervention in the cultural domain, without being exclusive of other approaches. Institutional, ideational and relational theories of the policy process have produced much ground-breaking scholarship over the last twenty years. Their transposition to cultural policy will help to analyse this inherently ambiguous (Gray 2014) and imprecise (Dubois 1999) policy domain.