This is the first book to examine how and why museums are political institutions. By concentrating on the ways in which power, ideology and legitimacy work at the international, national and local levels of the museum experience, Clive Gray provides an original analysis of who exercises power and how power is used in museums.

This book Uses the example of New Walk Museum, Leicester, and its' collections to examine and explain the complexity, multicausality and reasons for change in museums. Makes use of original interview and archive material to examine how and why social, economic, political and professional developments affected the work that was undertaken in New Walk Covers a time-span much longer than is normal for a book on museum history with the aim to allow for a more nuanced understanding of the causes and consequences of museum change over time. Also discusses the problems and possibilities of undertaking museum history research. Is aimed at all those with an interest in understanding how and why change affects museum practice and will be of interest to museum professionals, academics and students in museum studies, history, politics and sociology as well to the general museum visitor who would like to discover more about the institutions that they visit.

The Mali Rural Health Project was designed as a model effort within the US foreign aid programme for extending rudimentary health services in rural areas of developing nations. Although some success was achieved, the programme proved to be too costly for nation-wide implementation, thus failing to achieve its immediate goals. The authors' assessmen

The Role of Today's Museum provides a thorough investigation of what museums do and why. Arguing that museums are multifunctional institutions, the book examines the consequences of this for the services that museums provide, the publics to whom they are provided and the providers themselves. Adopting a wide perspective on understandings of the roles of museums and considering the different environments within which museums operate, Gray and McCall provide a new perspective on how transformations, as well as the gaps between intended policies and the actual work that is undertaken within museums, can be both identified and understood. By differentiating between social, economic and political visions and expectations of museums, the analysis in this book allows for a fuller understanding of what these organisations do and provide for their societies and the struggles and negotiations that surround their existence. The Role of Today's Museum takes a critical, interdisciplinary approach to studying museums and museum policy. As a result, the book will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums, cultural policy, social policy, cultural sociology, public policy and cultural and political economy. Highlighting the gaps that exist between policy ideals and museum practices, the book also provides valuable insights to policy-makers and practitioners.

The Mali Rural Health Project was designed as a model effort within the US foreign aid programme for extending rudimentary health services in rural areas of developing nations. Although some success was achieved, the programme proved to be too costly for nation-wide implementation, thus failing to achieve its immediate goals.

This is the first book to examine how and why museums are political institutions. By concentrating on the ways in which power, ideology and legitimacy work at the international, national and local levels of the museum experience, Clive Gray provides an original analysis of who exercises power and how power is used in museums.

The Role of Today's Museum provides a thorough investigation of what museums do and why. Arguing that museums are multifunctional institutions, the book examines the consequences of this for the services that museums provide, the publics to whom they are provided and the providers themselves. Adopting a wide perspective on understandings of the roles of museums and considering the different environments within which museums operate, Gray and McCall provide a new perspective on how transformations, as well as the gaps between intended policies and the actual work that is undertaken within museums, can be both identified and understood. By differentiating between social, economic and political visions and expectations of museums, the analysis in this book allows for a fuller understanding of what these organisations do and provide for their societies and the struggles and negotiations that surround their existence. The Role of Today's Museum takes a critical, interdisciplinary approach to studying museums and museum policy. As a result, the book will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums, cultural policy, social policy, cultural sociology, public policy and cultural and political economy. Highlighting the gaps that exist between policy ideals and museum practices, the book also provides valuable insights to policy-makers and practitioners.