Creative Economy' : Epistemic Communities, Policy Transfer and the Geography of Expertise

This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Prince, Russell John Title: Assembling the 'creative economy' : epistemic communities, policy transfer and the geography of expertise General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. 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Assembling the 'Creative Economy': Epistemic Communities, Policy Transfer and the Geography of Expertise Russell John Prince A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, School of Geographical Sciences January 2009 Word count: 71,623 Abstract The linking of I creativity' with the economic in policy discourses marks a relatively recent attempt to rethink the constituent elements of a competitive economy and, by extension, the nature of adequate policy interventions upon it. While it is widely recognised that notions of expertise playa pivotal role in who does this kind of rethinking, comparatively little attention has been paid to how such expertise is produced and situated in relation to the policy process. This thesis explores the geography of this expertise, focusing especially on how it is situated in transnational epistemic communities, and its relationship with the geography of the policy process across transnational space. The emergence of creativity is explored through a policy concept that centres this capacity: the creative industries. This policy strand is tracked through its emergence in the UK and transfer to other countries, focusing especially on New Zealand. There are three key findings. First, it is argued that policy is co constituted with expertise. When the creative industries policy concept first emerged in the UK in 1998 through the production of the Creative Industries Mapping Document (DCMS, 1998), a variety of actors working in areas understood to be cognate with the concept recast themselves as creative industries experts and sought to use this emergent capacity to shape ongoing creative industries policy development. Second, policy transfer is a process of translation that changes the form of a policy. The transfer of the creative industries policy concept to New Zealand occurred through circuits of embodied and codified knowledge that linked policy-making sites in either country, but their policy development has followed different paths and produced different policy programmes, resulting in transnational policy formation rather than simply formation in one place followed by transfer to another. And third, this transnational policy formation is occurring alongside the emergence of a transnational epistemic community of creative industries policy experts, a process analogous to that described in the first finding, supported by a transnational infrastructure of conferences, research institutes, policy networks and written texts. This epistemic community is a key source of expertise in the making of the I creative economy'. 11 Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank the New Zealand Government who funded my research through the Tertiary Education Commission's Bright Futures Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship programme. Without this support the prospect of completing a PhD outside of New Zealand would have been even more daunting than it already was. This research would not have been possible without the generosity of the research participants in giving me their time and telling me their stories. Their friendly and helpful responses made the research process an enjoyable experience and I can only hope that this thesis allows me to give something back in return that will be of interest to them. My supervisors Professor Adam Tickell and Professor Wendy Larner have provided fantastic advice, encouragement, support and friendship through this whole process. They have pushed me hard when I've needed it but given me the freedom to explore my ideas and for this I am very grateful. The support at Bristol from staff and students alike has made it a very enjoyable place to work. Although Brown's is by my reckoning the most palatial graduate student office in the world, it has been the friendship and camaraderie of Nick Gill, Charlie Rolfe, Graeme Felce, Lucy Hood, Sara Shannon, Kay Kutan, Paul Simpson, Pepe Rominillos, Rich Carter-White, James Ash, Sam Kinsley, Mike Gulliver and all the other students who have come and gone over the last few years that have made it a great place to be. Professor Susan Robertson, Professor Roger Dale, Dr Mario Novelli, Dr JD Dewsbury, Dr Keith Bassett, Dr Julie MacLeavy, Dr Maria Fannin, Dr Mark Jackson and all the other staff and students I have got to know in the last few years through reading groups and social events has made university life here stimulating and enjoyable. I would also like to recognise the input of my previous institutional life at the University of Auckland. Professor Richard Le Heron, Dr Nick Lewis, Dr Willie Smith and Professor Robin Kearns, amongst others, have continued to provide friendship and support in the last few years. Special thanks must go to Nick who first came up with the idea of looking closely at the creative industries! I also had the opportunity to spend some time at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006 and I would like to thank the Worldwide Universities Network for making this possible. Special thanks to Jamie Peck, Kris aIds, Maureen McLauchlan and all the other staff and students for making me feel welcome in my short time there. Thanks too to Mark Loy for giving me a place to stay. Outside of university life the last four years would have been difficult had it not been for some of the other friends I have made in Bristol. Thanks to Matt, Christian, Brian, Lucy, Aimee, Mike, Zoe, Harriet, Doris, Jacq, Dave and the rest of the Deans Court and St Michael's Hill crowd for letting me be a part of their 111 lives and making Bristol into a home away from home. Emma M., Simon and James have been great friends and flatmates, as have Emma K. and Steve in the last year. I'd also like to thank Don Kerr for being a great friend in the last few years and being a sympathetic ear to talk of rugby victory and defeat (except with the Crusaders). My parents have always been so supportive of my perpetual student status and forgiving of my prolonged absence and lack of phone calls. I hope to see more of them, and the rest of my family, in the next few years. Simon, Clare, Bennie, Briar and Rebecca W. have all been doing their OE to varying extents while I've been here, and as they always have done have been great friends and supports when I've needed it. My sister Rebecca and brother-in-law Matt have given me great holidays in Dubai and continuing love and support. A special thanks too to Liv, Dan, Jette, Kenneth, Zelda, Al and Jamie for giving me places to stay while I conducted my research. Finally, Aisling Gallagher has been a big part of my life in the last year and a half, which has coincided with the toughest period of my thesis. I don't know how well I would have handled this time without her love and support, but I know my thesis, and myself, are better for it. IV Author's declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the Regulations of the University of Bristol. The work is original, except where indicated by special reference in the text, and no part of the dissertation has been submitted for any other academic award. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED:.~~~... ~ ... ~ ............................ DAru:./0-yk<:7,. .. v Table of Contents 1: Introduction 1 1.1: Creative World? 1 1.2: Epistemic communities and the economy 5 1.3: Policy transfer and the creative industries 7 1.4: Structure of the thesis 14 2: Epistemic communities and transnational policy 19 2.1: Introduction 19 2.2: Epistemic communities as political actors 21 2.3: Diffusion, convergence, transfer: mobile policy epistemic communities 28 2.3.1: Policy diffusion, policy convergence 28 2.3.2: Policy transfer 29 2.3.3: Transnationalising policy transfer 33 2.4: Policy transfer in human geography 36 2.5: Circulating knowledge 41 2.6: Conclusion 48 3: Policy, knowledge and the constitution of expertise 50 3.1: Introduction 50 3.2: Post-structuralism and space 52 3.3: Problematisation 57 3.3.1: Governmentality 58

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