MUSEUMS AND POLITICS: In, Of, About Clive Gray Centre for Cultural Policy Studies University of Warwick

POLITICS Politics is concerned with the inter-action of: 1.Power - positive/negative: getting things done; stopping things happening; managing the agenda 2.Ideology - patterns of values, norms and beliefs that establish the context within which power is exercised 3.Legitimacy - the established acceptance that power has been exercised appropriately, and that the outcomes of this exercise are the ‘right’ ones given the rules of the game 4.Rationality – the underlying logical framework which justifies the legitimacy of the system: legal, social, economic, behavioural, ritual, instrumental, political, museal

HOW DOES POLITICS WORK? Well… It depends. And it depends upon: 1.The Actors who are taking part: core; penumbral; peripheral; policy-relevant; disengaged/excluded/potential 2.The Subject of engagement: issues of entry fees are not subject to the same politics as are issues of restitution/reclamation/repatriation 3.The Degree of societal interest: who cares? 4.The Arena in which it occurs: ‘the museum’; local; regional; national; international Now let me make some gross generalisations

POLITICS ‘IN’, ‘OF’, ‘ABOUT’ Something of ‘a series of nested games’ Politics ‘in’ museums: how are things done? - undertaken primarily by those who directly run museums and provide museum services Politics ‘of’ museums: what things are done? - undertaken by those inside and outside the museum whose decisions affect the context for what takes place ‘in’ museums Politics ‘about’ museums: why are things being done? - undertaken by those inside and outside the museum whose decisions set the contexts for the politics ‘of’ museums

POLITICS ‘IN’: I 1.Actors: ‘core’ and ‘penumbral’ - professionals; managers; ancillary staff; volunteers 2.Subject: ‘the collection’ - exhibition and display; engagement; functional provision (education; conservation; curation; catering - particularly of cakes; security; etc) 3.Degree of interest: ‘local’; visitors; ‘community’ (however defined - for New Walk it is not the same as for the British Museum): often high for specific cases but generally low 4.Arena: the museum

POLITICS ‘IN’: II 1.Power - primarily ‘positive’: making explicit choices 2.Ideology - primarily professional based on functional concerns 3.Legitimacy - primarily deriving from professional expertise; secondarily deriving from bureaucratic rules, norms and legal-rational values 4.Rationality – primarily museal; secondarily behavioural, instrumental and social

POLITICS ‘OF’: I 1.Actors: ‘core’, ‘penumbral’, ‘peripheral’, ‘policy-relevant’ 2.Subject: accountability; funding between functions; visitors/engagement; ‘the collection’ (in terms of, for example, accessioning/deaccessioning) 3.Degree of interest: context dependent - largely not particularly high except amongst those with a central interest in the subject as employees, visitors and potential visitors, or as funders and general managers 4.Arena: ‘the museum’ and sectoral, local, regional, national

POLITICS ‘OF’: II Power: positive and negative: making decisions/policies; managing the agenda to control access to the system Ideology: combination of professional (about management) and (usually) party political (about choices) values and beliefs Legitimacy: primarily procedural rules; secondarily legal norms and political system values Rationality: subject dependent - political (eg accountability); social (eg visitors/engagement); economic (eg funding choices); instrumental (eg. accessioning/deaccessioning)

POLITICS ‘ABOUT’: I Actors: primarily ‘core’; secondarily ‘policy-relevant’ and ‘peripheral’ Subject: definitional; rules of engagement and ‘best practice’; national status and centrality (‘bragging rights’) Degree of interest: self-contained and self-referential; primarily ‘core’ professional; secondarily national governmental Arena: primarily international (eg ICOM, UNESCO); secondarily national (eg professional associations)

POLITICS ‘ABOUT’: II Power: largely negative - controlling access to the system; controlling core ideological and professional positions that exclude non-believers Ideology: primarily professional Legitimacy: primarily developed from professional authority and rules; secondarily from political norms and values Rationality: primarily museal and ritual; secondarily political and social