Mémoire
| Résumé : | Culture is a force for democracy. It is the preferential channel to stimulate freedom of expression, critical thinking, knowledge, pluralism, dialogue and personal engagement: all factors that are at the heart of a democracy. Of course, the least democratic governments have historically countered the role of culture as a platform for critical thinking, striving to homogenize the cultural discourse in order to preserve their political power, often disguised under the shadow of tradition. Indeed, the institutional control of the arts and academic agoras can function as a powerful top-down device to maintain -or, in fact, subvert - the status quo and the sociocultural order of the community. It is for this reason that democratic countries should always aim to preserve the independence of the cultural field from the forms of polarization that might arise from institutionalized ideologies, thus granting the naturally irregular development of local cultures.The purpose of my study is to develop a qualitative framework in which the concepts of culture, politics and identity intersect, in order put emphasis on the value of culture as a political asset. Drawing on academic literature, international Treaties, recent reports and interviews, I will be analyzing the practices of cultural policy mainly concerning the arts, focusing particularly on the artist's freedom of expression and on their audience's "freedom of reception", that is the extent to which individual members of the audience are free to elaborate a critical perspective of the art they consume.To support this investigation, I will examine the case study of current cultural policy administration in Hungary, aiming to shed light on the EU's potential to promote democracy through soft and hard conditionality. Findings of the investigation display that Europeanization through culture is a complex, flawed but beneficial process of promotion for the democratic identity of the EU, and thus for enhancing its legitimacy through soft power. |
