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Agonistic failures: Following policy conflicts in Berlin’s urban cultural politics

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  • Friederike Landau

Abstract

The paper intervenes in critical policy studies to challenge the ‘success bias’ lingering in public policy accounts of collaborative governance. I suggest conflict, rather than consensus, is a productive resource to navigate collaborations between state and civic stakeholders. By developing a conflict-oriented framework that foregrounds political decisions as always-already failing – regardless of whether promoted as success or failure – I argue that the recognition of nuanced conflicts contributes to new understandings on what counts as success or failure to whom. To substantiate the conflict-oriented framework of policy failure, I present empirical insights into Berlin’s urban cultural politics, shedding light on a new funding instrument for artists. Unpacking artists’ and administrators’ understandings about what constitutes a failure, and how to proceed from there, I propose ‘policyfailing’ as ongoing failure. Conceptualising failure along the lines of operational conflicts (i.e. concrete, procedural disagreements) and meta conflicts (i.e. overarching, ideological differences), two scenarios of policy failure emerge: absolute policy failure, pointing to unsolvable conflicts between state and civic stakeholders; and agonistic policy failure, referring to wider-ranging disagreements about the purpose of policy issues, which are however transferred into temporary policy solutions. Following one such agonistic policy failure in Berlin over time, I show how new opportunities for both absolute and agonistic policy failure unfold. Ultimately, I outline the practical, political and analytical potential of an agonistic framework to understand policies as inherently contested and, to some degree, always failing.

Suggested Citation

  • Friederike Landau, 2021. "Agonistic failures: Following policy conflicts in Berlin’s urban cultural politics," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(12), pages 2531-2548, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:12:p:2531-2548
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098020949080
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erik Swyngedouw, 2009. "The Antinomies of the Postpolitical City: In Search of a Democratic Politics of Environmental Production," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 601-620, September.
    2. Eugene McCann & Kevin Ward, 2015. "Thinking Through Dualisms in Urban Policy Mobilities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 828-830, July.
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    4. McCONNELL, ALLAN, 2010. "Policy Success, Policy Failure and Grey Areas In-Between," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 345-362, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sara Le Xuan, 2023. "The Power of Radical Place-Making Practices: Lessons Learned from ufaFabrik in Berlin," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, August.

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