Kulttuuripolitiikkaa strategisessa valtiossa : taiteen ja kulttuurin ohjaus ja rahoitus hallinnollisena politiikkana

Abstract

This dissertation combines research in cultural policy, public administration, and politics. It examines the steering and financing of Finnish state cultural policy through various case studies. Its focus is especially on the developments during the 2010s. The main goal of the dissertation is to analyse the administrative system of cultural policy from the perspectives of politics and the exercise of power. As a theoretical framework, I build on the discussions on the historical development of cultural policy steering and objectives, policy instruments, and the implementation of a so-called strategic state. Thus, I also contribute to the discussion on the stability and transformation of cultural policy in a socio-political context. The research is multifaceted, and my examination focuses on both broader cultural policy and narrower art policy. The source materials consist of documents, interviews, as well as financial data, while the analysis of the materials utilizes, for example, thematic design, discourse analysis and budget analysis. As a main result of the dissertation, I present how the idea of a strategic state is manifested in the steering methods, structures and financing of cultural policy. The increasing influence of civil servants and tendencies of strategic centralization are key cultural policy developments of the past decade. The cultural policy system has adopted the tools of results-oriented and strategic governance, forming a complex, multifaceted system. Still, in many ways traditional instruments such as laws remain essential within Finnish cultural policy. Multiple instrumental goals, such as supporting citizens’ health and well-being or boosting creative economy, have been integrated into cultural policy, which, however, has remained relatively stable, especially in terms of central funding streams. In all, many ministries allocate funding to culture setting various goals for it, forming also overlapping responsibilities with the sectoral cultural policy. The dissertation consists of four peer-reviewed articles and a summary contextualizing the results of the articles. The articles analyse policies around the creative economy, the organizational reform of Finland’s art policy through the establishment of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the exercise of power by civil servants and the distribution of state cultural funding to different arts and culture sectors.