DEMOCRATISING DECISION-MAKING AND ARTS
COUNCIL ENGLAND: THE IMPLICATIONS OF
CHANGE
Clive Gray
Department of Public Policy
Reader in Cultural Policy
De Montfort University
The Key Questions
• Representative and participatory democracy:
clash or complement?
• Whose interest?: pleasing the many,
protecting the few
• Accountability: where will the buck stop if the
system changes?
• Organisation and democracy: embedding
change
‘The Duty To Involve’
• Top-down
• Seeking out organisational representatives to
involve in activities
• Involved in what?
• Decision-making?
• Policy-making?
• Service Management?
• Service delivery?
• Service control?
Arts Council England and Democracy
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Part of system of representative democracy
Serving ‘the public’ as a whole
‘Arm’s-length’ quango
Political/administrative independence of
action
• But political influence via
appointments/Public Service and Funding
Agreements (amongst other things)
Arts Council England and Whose
Interests?
• Class interests? (cf. Jenkins, 1979)
• Social interests? (cf. Hutchison, 1982)
• Technocratic/aesthetic interests (cf. Gray,
2000)
• And what about ...
• Gender/ethnic interests?
• Geographical/regional interests?
• Producer/consumer interests?
Arts Council England and
Accountability
• Accountability to:
• Parliament (which votes the money)
• Ministers (who formally appoint the members
and agree Departmental policy priorities)
• Clients (who they fund/invest in/support)
• The general public (on whose behalf it
operates)
Minimalism and Maximalism
• Minimalism: effective non-participation –
manipulation/therapy
• Maximalism: citizen power – citizen
control/delegated power/partnership
• Tokenism – informing/consultation/placation
Changing the System of Democracy?
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The ‘duty to involve’ as:
Syndicalism (cf. Lord Goodman)
Corporatism (involving key interests)
What are new actors meant to do?
Minimalist position: no impact on democracy
Maximalist position: complete re-structuring
of internal democracy
Changing Interests?
• New interests or existing ones?
• Minimalist position: no real change – possible
formalisation of informal arrangements
• Maximalist position: formalisation of
relationships of ACE and interests
• ‘Capture’ of ACE by interests or interests by
ACE?
• Major problem of interest identification
Changing Accountabilities
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Minimalist position: no change
Maximalist position: major change
New balance between accountability to:
Parliament/Ministers/clients/general public
and
‘involved’ interests to their own constituencies
ACE to the ‘involved’ interests
Changing the ACE?
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Formal and informal structures and practices
Formal: top-down management approach?
Informal: bottom-up approach?
Enthusiasts and opponents – internally and
externally
• ‘Public Value’ work and organisational
change?