Cultures and Globalization

Today is a new metropolitan age and for the first time ever more people live in cities than they do anywhere else. As cities strengthen their international and cultural influence, the global world is acted out most articulately in the world′s urban hubs - through its diverse cultures, broad networks and innovative styles of governance. Looking at the city through its internal dynamics, the book examines how governance and cultural policy play out in a national and international framework.

Making a truly global contribution to the literature, the editors bring together a truly international and highly-respected bevy of scholars. In doing so, they skilfully steer debates beyond the city as an economic powerhouse, to cover issues that fully comprehend a city′s cultural dynamics and its impact on policy including alternative economies, creativity, migration, diversity, sustainability, education and urban planning.

Innovative in its approach and content, this book is ideal for students, scholars and researchers interested in sociology, urban studies, cultural studies, and public policy.

Helmut K. Anheier, PhD, is President and Dean at the Hertie School of Governance, and holds a chair of sociology at Heidelberg University. He received his PhD from Yale University in 1986, was a senior researcher at John Hopkins School of Public Policy, Professor of Public Policy and Social Welfare at UCLA′s Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Professor Anheier founded and directed the Centre for Civil Society at LSE, the Center for Civil Society at UCLA, and the Center for Social Investment at Heidelberg. Before embarking on an academic career, he served as social affairs officer to the United Nations.  He is author of over 400 publications, and won various international prizes and recognitions for his scholarship. Amongst his recent book publications are Nonprofit Organizations - Theory, Management, Policy (London: Routledge, 2014), A Versatile American Institution: The Changing Ideals and Realities of Philanthropic Foundations with David Hammack (Washington, DC: Brookings, 2013) and The Global Studies Encyclopedia with Mark Juergensmeyer (5 vols, Sage, 2012).  He is the principal academic lead of the Hertie School´s annual Governance Report (Oxford University Press, 2013-), and currently working on projects relating to indicator research, social innovation, and success and failure in philanthropy. Yudhishthir Raj Isar is an independent analyst, advisor and public speaker who straddles different worlds of cultural theory, experience and practice. He is Professor of Cultural Policy Studies at The American University of Paris and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney. He has also been maître de conference at Sciences Po, Paris. Professor Isar is co-editor of the Cultures and Globalization Series (SAGE). He is a trustee of civil society cultural organisations and consultant to international organisations and foundations and Past President of Culture Action Europe. Earlier, at UNESCO, where he served from 1973 to 2002, he was notably Executive Secretary of the World Commission on Culture and Development and Director of the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture.