EUROPEAN CULTURAL POLICY: PRIORITIES AND PRACTICES IN THE FIELD OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract

By applying a comparative method and analysis of documents, this paper studies the altered position and role of culture as a delicate field of intervention in the field of European integration policies. From that standpoint we approach the socio-cultural and anthropological analysis of the basic directions of development in European policy in the fields of culture from the beginning of the process of EU integrations to this day. The aim of the research is to indicate the causes and consequences of increased interest of the European political agenda for the concept of cultural heritage, in particular from the 1970s, with the intention to critically analyze the conceptual interpretations and strategic uses of cultural heritage as part of European cultural policy. For that purpose, the paper provides insight into the basic research findings on the priorities and practices in the field of affirmation of the cultural heritage of Europe, obtained by analyzing and interpreting secondary sources (research papers, numerous internationally accepted documents, various European programs and projects). Conclusions are drawn on the unique contradictoriness in the rhetoric of European political actors, which in the field of cultural heritage balances between European particularism and universalism, as well as the unique strategic shift in European cultural activities from the primary affirmation of the symbolic and social potential of cultural heritage towards the increasingly emphasized use and abuse of its economic dimension.