Performing new worlds? Policy, politics and creative labour in hard times

This paper addresses the theme of this special issue by offering critical reflections on public policy in the current period of cuts, austerity and retrenchment, while also offering pathways towards future possibilities. It explores current strategies of divestment, design and decentralisation, assessing the scope within each for creative enactments and alternative pathways. It then explores ‘public-making’ as a means of countering the affective consequences of austerity, and traces some of the numerous forms ‘border work’ at stake in attempts to mitigate its consequences. Finally the paper explores the troubled relationship between progressive policy enactments and neoliberal appropriations.

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