In the modern world, where public policies represent the main principle of governance, every activity that aims to enforce public policies, and with it cultural policies, must have a legal basis. However, as earlier studies by the Center have shown, the legal framework of the Republic of Serbia carries many challenges for actors in the sphere of culture. Therefore, the main purpose of the project was to provide empirical facts for improving the legislative process that systematically supports the development of culture in Serbia and analyzes regulations important for cultural development.
For this purpose, the Constitution, laws, and bylaws related to governance in culture, as well as regulations important for cultural heritage, were carefully analyzed.
The analysis enabled the creation of a timeline starting from 1945 (when the republic was founded) to this day, which shows how cultural development was regulated and planned. During group conversations/focus groups, the representatives of local self-governments, development agencies, museums, archives, and centers for the protection of cultural monuments were asked for their opinions about earlier and current regulations, as well as to suggest new ones. All data obtained during this research was analyzed in light of legal anthropology, anthropology of public policies, cultural studies, socio-legal studies, and estimation of the effect of regulations on public policies, as a contemporary concept of analyzing the effectiveness of public policies.
The research results were published in the monograph Culture and Laws (On Governance Actors and Cultural Heritage), available on the website of the Center.
