Discourse analysis of participation in Flemish cultural policy doi:10.34934/DVN/XDGDVR Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA 2025-11-19 2 Dewinter, Hanne, 2025, "Discourse analysis of participation in Flemish cultural policy", https://doi.org/10.34934/DVN/XDGDVR, Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA, V2 Discourse analysis of participation in Flemish cultural policy 140 cultural policy documents published between 1990-2024 in Flanders FCPD-1990–2024 doi:10.34934/DVN/XDGDVR Dewinter, Hanne Hanne Dewinter Hanne Dewinter 2025-03-31 Vrije Universiteit Brussel Nvivo 1231825N Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA Social Sciences & Digital Humanities Archive Dewinter, Hanne Dewinter, Hanne 2025-11-13 2025-11-19 NA The dataset consists of textual documentary data. It contains 140 Flemish cultural policy documents published between 1990 and 2024, including policy notes, strategic plans, ministerial communications, and evaluation reports. All materials are provided in their original textual format (primarily PDF). A codebook is included to document the analytical framework used in the accompanying critical discourse analysis. Arts and Humanities Social Sciences Cultural policy Participation Cultural policy Participation Discourse analysis This dataset contains 140 Flemish cultural policy documents published between 1990 and 2024. The collection includes strategic notes, policy plans, evaluation reports, ministerial briefs, and other official texts. The dataset was compiled for a critical discourse analysis examining how the rhetoric of participation is mobilised within Flemish cultural policy over time. The accompanying study identifies underlying paradigms and traces patterns, shifts, tensions, and omissions in participatory discourses across three decades of policymaking. The dataset enables researchers to explore how notions of participation relate to broader political, cultural, and institutional power dynamics. All documents were collected from public governmental sources or official archival portals. 1990 2024 2024-10-01 2025-03-31 Cultural policy documents (textual data) Codebook (textual data) Belgium Flanders Flanders Flemish community The primary unit of analysis is the individual policy document. The universe consists of all official cultural policy documents produced by Flemish governmental and administrative bodies between 1990 and 2024. This includes policy notes, strategic plans, ministerial communications, decrees, evaluation reports, and related documents that address cultural policy frameworks, priorities, and understandings of participation. The dataset represents the subset of these documents that was publicly available and retrievable through official governmental platforms and archival repositories at the time of collection. The article accompanying this dataset investigates how the rhetoric of participation operates within Flemish cultural policy. Drawing on a critical discourse analysis of 140 policy documents (1990–2024), we identify underlying paradigms and trace patterns, shifts, tensions, and notable omissions over time. By doing so, we redirect attention toward questions of power and authority, revealing how participatory discourses both shape—and are shaped by—broader political and cultural power relations. The dataset was constructed using a longitudinal time approach. It covers a continuous period from 1990 to 2024, allowing for the analysis of temporal patterns, shifts, and developments in Flemish cultural policy discourse. Dewinter Hanne, VUB NA NA The texts were gathered via the online archive of the Flemish Parliament. For missing or hard-to-find items, we consulted the physical archive of the Flemish Parliament, with assistance from an archivist. Additionally, we employed snowball sampling to integrate other relevant policy documents that were referenced in the initial set, including some key publications commissioned by the Flemish Government. This yielded 140 relevant documents spanning eight policy periods (see Table 1). Throughout these periods, the Ministers of Culture came from different political parties. Two were from a liberal party: Patrick Dewael (1989–1992) and Sven Gatz (2014–2019). Three came from a Christian Democratic party: Hugo Weckx (1992–1995), Luc Martens (1995–1999) and Joke Schauvlieghe (2009–2014). The remaining two represented a Flemish nationalist tradition, with Bert Anciaux (1999–2002, 2004–2009) aligned with the left side of the political spectrum, and Jan Jambon (2019–2024) representing the right side. The documents included in this dataset were obtained from publicly accessible Flemish governmental platforms and archival repositories. Primary sources include official policy portals, ministerial websites, parliamentary archives, and digital collections of the Government of Flanders. All documents were retrieved from publicly available online sources and represent original publications from Flemish cultural policy actors between 1990 and 2024. The historical sources in this dataset originate from official Flemish governmental institutions responsible for cultural policy between 1990 and 2024. The documents were originally produced and published by policy actors such as the Government of Flanders, the Department of Culture, Youth and Media, the Flemish Ministers of Culture, and related administrative bodies. All sources represent authentic policy documents released in their original context and retrieved from publicly accessible governmental websites, parliamentary archives, and institutional repositories. The sources consist of official Flemish cultural policy documents produced between 1990 and 2024. They include policy notes, strategic plans, ministerial communications, decrees, evaluation reports, and other administrative texts that articulate cultural policy priorities and frameworks. The documents vary in length, format, and institutional authorship, but all share a formal, policy-oriented character. All documents included in the dataset were collected from publicly accessible Flemish governmental platforms and institutional archives. Access to the original sources was unrestricted at the time of collection. Additional documentation includes a codebook that outlines the analytical framework and coding procedures used in the accompanying discourse analysis. The texts were gathered via the online archive of the Flemish Parliament. For missing or hard-to-find items, we consulted the physical archive of the Flemish Parliament, with assistance from an archivist. Additionally, we employed snowball sampling to integrate other relevant policy documents that were referenced in the initial set (Noy Citation2008), including some key publications commissioned by the Flemish Government. Critical Discourse analysis This yielded 140 relevant documents spanning eight policy periods (see ). Throughout these periods, the Ministers of Culture came from different political parties. Two were from a liberal party: Patrick Dewael (1989–1992) and Sven Gatz (2014–2019). Three came from a Christian Democratic party: Hugo Weckx (1992–1995), Luc Martens (1995–1999) and Joke Schauvlieghe (2009–2014). The remaining two represented a Flemish nationalist tradition, with Bert Anciaux (1999–2002, 2004–2009) aligned with the left side of the political spectrum, and Jan Jambon (2019–2024) representing the right side. After Bert Anciaux resigned as Flemish Minister in July 2002 due to internal tensions within his party, his colleague Paul Van Grembergen took over his responsibilities for the remainder of the term (2002–2004). . All documents were retrieved directly from official governmental sources to ensure authenticity and completeness. When multiple versions of a document existed, the most authoritative and final version was selected. Files were stored in stable, non-compressed formats (primarily PDF) to prevent data degradation. All documents were cross-checked against their original governmental sources to verify completeness and authenticity. NA Duplicate documents were identified and removed. NA NA NA DOI: 10.1080/10286632.2025.2583906 Dewinter, H., Bradt, L., Rutten, K., & Vandermeersche, G. (2025). Limits to the participation paradigm? Unpacking the rhetoric of participation in Flemish cultural policy (1990-2024). International Journal of Cultural Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2025.2583906 NA Minor inconsistencies in the availability or formatting of documents across different governmental sources may exist due to variations in archival practices over time. In rare cases, older documents were available only in lower-quality scans, which may influence text extraction or machine readability but not the substantive content. Anc. 04-09 - Beleidsnota Cultuur 2004-2009.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Beleidsprioriteiten 2005-2006.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Beleidsprioriteiten 2006-2007.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Beleidsprioriteiten 2007-2008.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Beleidsprioriteiten 2008-2009.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Besluit van de Vlaamse Regering betreffende de uitvoering van het participatiedecreet.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Besluit van de Vlaamse Regering tot operationalisering van het beleidsdomein CJSP.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Decreet cultureel ergoed 2008.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Decreet houdende de oprichting van de Raad voor Cultuur, Jeugd, Sport en Media.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Decreet houdende wijziging van het decreet van 4 april 2003 betreffende scw.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Decreet houdende wijziging van het Kunstendecreet van 2 april 2004.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Decreet tot wijziging van het Kunstendecreet.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Decreet van 21_11_2008 betreffende de ondersteuning van de circuskunsten in vlaanderen.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Participatiedecreet.pdf application/pdf Anc. 04-09 - Smaakmakers_nota_cultuureducatie.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Beleidsnota 1999-2004.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Beleidsprioriteiten 2000-2001.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Beleidsprioriteiten 2001-2002.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - BVR_20020426_BS_20020727.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Decreet betreffende de amateurkunsten.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Decreet houdende instemming met het akkoord inzake samenwerking.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 Decreet van 13_07_2001 houdende het stimuleren van een kwalitatief en lokaal cultuurbeleid.pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Ministerieel besluit ....pdf application/pdf Anc. 99-02 - Verdrag tussen de Vlaamse Gemeenschap en ....pdf application/pdf Codebook - Discourse analysis.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document DW 85-92 - Decreet culturele centra.pdf application/pdf DW 85-92 g256-1.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - 170717_conceptnota_aanvullende_financiering_en_cultureel_ondernemerschap.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - 1BE42AF_1.PDF application/pdf Ga 14-19 - 1BE9C72_1.PDF application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Beleidsbrief 2015-2016.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Beleidsbrief 2016-2017.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Beleidsbrief 2017-2018.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Beleidsbrief 2018-2019.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Beleidsnota Cultuur 2014-2019.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - BESLUI_3.PDF application/pdf Ga 14-19 - BESLUI_4.PDF application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Besluit 19.12.pdf application/pdf Ga 14 -19 - Besluit 1.PDF application/pdf Ga 14-19 - circusdecreet.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Conceptnota duurzaam cultureel erfgoed.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Cultureel Erfgoeddecreet.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Cultuurspreiding.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 Decreet 29.03.19.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet betreffende de bovenlokale cultuurwerking.pdf application/pdf Ga 14 - 19 - Decreet houdende de subsidiëring en erkenning van het scw.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet houdende diverse bepalingen in de beleidsvelden cultuur en jeugd.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet houdende diverse bepalingen in de beleidsvelden cultuur, jeugd en Brussel.pdf application/pdf Ga 14- 19 - Decreet houdende wijziging van a 173 van het Kunstendecreet van december 2013.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet houdende wijziging van artikel 85 van het Kunstendecreet december 2013.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet houdende wijziging van het Kunstendecreet van 13 december 2013 (2).pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet houdende wijziging van het Kunstendecreet van 13 december 2013.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Decreet kunst in opdracht.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Landschapstekening_kunsten_inclusief_bijlagen.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - MINIST_1.PDF application/pdf Ga 14-19 - MINIST_2.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Strategische-visienota-cultureel-erfgoed.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Strategische visienota Sociaal-Cultureel Volwassenenwerk 2016.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Visienota Kunsten.pdf application/pdf Ga 14-19 - Vlaams_cultuurbeleid_digitale_tijdperk.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - BE5DEC_1.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 -BE66F0_1.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Beleids- en begrotingstoelichting Cultuur 2020.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Beleids- en begrotingstoelichting Cultuur 2021.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Beleids- en begrotingstoelichting Cultuur 2022.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Beleids- en begrotingstoelichting Cultuur 2023.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Beleids- en begrotingstoelichting Cultuur 2024.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Beleidsnota Cultuur 2019-2024.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - BESLUI_2.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - BESLUI_3.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - BESLUI_4.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Cultuur na corona - oplegger 111021.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - DE916D_1.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - DEA6ED_1.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - DECREE_4.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 -Decreet over de ondersteuning van de professionele kunsten.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Decreet over de subsidiëring van het sociaal-cultureel volwassenenwerk.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Landschapstekening Kunstenpunt 2019.pdf application/pdf Jam 19-24 - MINIST_1.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - MINIST_2.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - MINIST_3.PDF application/pdf Jam 19-24 - Visienota Kunsten 2020.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Beleidsbrief - De structurering van advies en overleg inzake Cultuur en Welzijn.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 -Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 1997.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 1998-1999.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 1998.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur, Gezin en Welzijn 1995-1999.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - BESLUI_2.PDF application/pdf Ma 95-99 - BESLUI_3.PDF application/pdf Ma 95-99 - BESLUI_4.PDF application/pdf Ma 95-99 Besluit van de Vlaamse Regering tot wijziging besluit van de Vlaamse regering van 5 mei 1998.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Besluit Van De Vlaamse Regering van 07_04_1998.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - BVR_19990504_BS_19990622.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Decreet houdende de oprichting van....pdf application/pdf Ma 95 - 99 Decreet tot goedkeuring van het Verdrag tussen de Vlaamse Gemeenschap België en Nederland.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Decreet volkscultuur.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - g596-4 (1).pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - MINIST_1.PDF application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Museumdecreet.pdf application/pdf Ma 95-99 - Muziekdecreet.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - 2010_4_visienota.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Beleidsnota Cultuur 2009-2014.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 2010-2011.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 2011-2012.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 2012-2013.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 2013-2014.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - BESLUI_1.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - BESLUI_2.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - BESLUI_3.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - BESLUI_4.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14. Besluit 23.05.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Conceptnota Cultuureducatie 2014 - Doorgroeien in Cultuur.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - conceptnota groeien in cultuur.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Conceptnota vernieuwing Kunstendecreet 2013.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - DE8C3A_1.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - DECREE_4.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Decreet lokaal cultuurbeleid.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Decreet van 06_07_2012 houdende het vlaams cultureel-erfgoedbeleid.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - DEDCF8_1.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Kunstendecreet.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Visienota Cultuurforum_5_jaar.pdf application/pdf Schau 09-14 - wijziging decreet scw.PDF application/pdf Schau 09-14 - Wijziging topstukkendecreet.pdf application/pdf Schau 9-14 - BESLUI_5.pdf application/pdf Table 1. Overview of the analysed policy documents.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document VG - 02-04 - Beleidsbrief 2002-2003.pdf application/pdf VG - 02-04 -Beleidsprioriteiten Cultuur 2003-2004.pdf application/pdf VG - 02-04 -BVR_20020705_BS_20020817.pdf application/pdf VG - 02-04 -BVR_20021018_BS_20030123.pdf application/pdf VG - 02 - 04 -Decreet privaatrechterlijk cultureel archief.pdf application/pdf VG - 02-04 -Decreet van 04_04_2003 betreffende het sociaal-cultureel volwassenenwerk.pdf application/pdf VG - 02-04 - Kunstendecreet.pdf application/pdf VG - 02-04 - Topstukkendecreet.pdf application/pdf VV - 02-04 - Erfgoeddecreet.pdf application/pdf We 92-95 - Beleidsbrief sociaal-cultureel werk.pdf application/pdf We 92-95 - BESLUI_1.PDF application/pdf We 92-95 - BESLUI_2.PDF application/pdf We 92-95 - BVR_19931222_BS19940225.pdf application/pdf We 92-95 - Creatief Vlaanderen (Vlaanderen in Europa 2002)_V1 en V2.pdf application/pdf We 92-95 - Decreet organisaties voor podiumkunsten.pdf application/pdf We 92-95 - MBVR_19940124_BS_19940407.pdf application/pdf