Cultures and Globalization: Cities, Cultural Policy and Governance

The cultural presence in struggles around political, economic, technical, and legal issues centered in the realities of cities can become catalysts for changes in a whole range of institutional domains – markets, participatory governance, judicial recourse, cultures of engagement and deliberation, and rights for members of the urban community regardless of lineage and origin. The resurgence of the city as a site for research on these major contemporary dynamics is evident in many different disciplines – sociology, anthropology, economic geography, cultural studies, and literary criticism… This volume is a significant contribution to this larger body of research and interpretation… It opens new ground for research, interpretation and policy making in our emergent global urban era
From the Foreword by Saskia Sassen

Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University

It is in cities that the multifaceted intersections of culture and globalization are most keenly felt, and most creatively responded to. Comprehensive in thematics and ambitious in scope, this volume is an essential guidebook to understanding the shaping and making of culture and cultural policy in our urbanised world
Ien Ang
Director, Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney

This is a significant volume that firmly situates the discussion about globalization, cultural production and the challenges for policy formulation in the dynamic, slippery and ever shifting terrain of the contemporary urban condition
Rahul Mehrotra
Professor and Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

The fifth volume in the “Cultures and Globalization” series, Cities, Cultural Policy and Governance, edited by Helmut Anheier and Yudhishthir Raj Isar, continues to address the various facets that result from the intersection of culture and globalisation… Throughout the book it is clear that the editors have taken great pains to demonstrate the speed with which the new “glocal” culture has come to dominate cultural policy decisions and the direction of governance, ensuring that debates and information are as up to date as possible. When we come to the city case studies the same is true, with the key issues faced by London referencing the 2011 riots, and the impact of the growing global financial crisis… Overall, a great introduction to an interesting collection of ideas, which should give the reader the impetus they need to explore further.

Rebecca Litchfield
LSE Review of Books

Helmut K. Anheier, PhD, is President and Dean at the Hertie School of Governance, and holds a chair of sociology at Heidelberg University. He received his PhD from Yale University in 1986, was a senior researcher at John Hopkins School of Public Policy, Professor of Public Policy and Social Welfare at UCLA′s Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Professor Anheier founded and directed the Centre for Civil Society at LSE, the Center for Civil Society at UCLA, and the Center for Social Investment at Heidelberg. Before embarking on an academic career, he served as social affairs officer to the United Nations. 

He is author of over 400 publications, and won various international prizes and recognitions for his scholarship. Amongst his recent book publications are Nonprofit Organizations – Theory, Management, Policy (London: Routledge, 2014), A Versatile American Institution: The Changing Ideals and Realities of Philanthropic Foundations with David Hammack (Washington, DC: Brookings, 2013) and The Global Studies Encyclopedia with Mark Juergensmeyer (5 vols, Sage, 2012).  He is the principal academic lead of the Hertie School´s annual Governance Report (Oxford University Press, 2013-), and currently working on projects relating to indicator research, social innovation, and success and failure in philanthropy.

Yudhishthir Raj Isar is an independent analyst, advisor and public speaker who straddles different worlds of cultural theory, experience and practice. He is Professor of Cultural Policy Studies at The American University of Paris and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney. He has also been maître de conference at Sciences Po, Paris. Professor Isar is co-editor of the Cultures and Globalization Series (SAGE). He is a trustee of civil society cultural organisations and consultant to international organisations and foundations and Past President of Culture Action Europe. Earlier, at UNESCO, where he served from 1973 to 2002, he was notably Executive Secretary of the World Commission on Culture and Development and Director of the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture.