ABSTRACT: In a context of growing challenges for public cultural organizations to fulfil their mission, one key factor that may either facilitate or further constrain their role is the quality of governance relations between public managers and the political authorities responsible for their oversight. Institutional governance can shape the operating environment of cultural sectors; political-administrative interactions and dynamics affect public cultural organisations, influencing both the design and implementation of cultural policies (Svara, 1999). Therefore, it is crucial to understand which conditions foster higher-quality interaction between political authorities and cultural managers, and to examine the role of public administration within the policy processes, given the costs such tensions may impose on the successful fulfilment of cultural organizations’ missions and the stability of the governance ecosystems relied upon by cultural professionals. This study aims to diagnose and analyse the conditions that have fostered both harmonious and conflictual political–administrative relations in the case of the Portuguese national Ministry of Culture and its cultural organizations. Political science literature, particularly agency theory and principal–agent approaches (Bertelli & Palma, 2021; Lane, 2020), has highlighted the complexities involved in the delegation of power from elected officials to public managers. Different degrees of managerial autonomy and political control over public organizations (Verhoest et al., 2004; Van Thiel et al., 2012; Bach, 2016), as well as different public service bargains (Hood & Lodge, 2008), contribute to dynamic political–administrative relationships (Demir, 2009) that vary in their levels of politicization and alignment of preferences and interests. While several theoretical models have been proposed to interpret interactions between the political–governmental and organizational levels (Peters, 1987; Svara, 1999), there remains limited empirical understanding of which dimensions tend to predispose these governance relations towards tension or harmony, particularly in the cultural sector. This article analyses the Portuguese case by proposing a theoretical reading of the dimensions shaping political–administrative relations, based on a longitudinal empirical analysis spanning twenty years (2000–2019) of interactions between Ministers of Culture and senior public managers of organizations under the Ministry’s authority. The study draws on extensive qualitative research, combining content analysis of periodic press coverage, semi-structured interviews with political office-holders and public cultural managers, and legislative sources. Through the identification of periods of tension and harmony between these agents, the analysis seeks to uncover perspectives and empirical evidence pointing to factors that may have motivated relational tensions and harmonies. The findings reveal differentiated patterns of political–administrative relations between cultural organizations and the Ministry of Culture, with some of them presenting more tensions prevalence with the government. Governance variations between apparently similar organisations - namely in managerial leadership turnover, strategic continuity, and degrees of relational insulation from the Ministry - appear to be multi-causal, involving dimensions such as legal autonomy; historical and subsector-specific organizational characteristics; communication practices between actors; professional, personal, and political profiles of office-holders; the timing of managerial mandates; complementary institutional networks and relations; and broader political and macroeconomic contexts. IMPACT: Intended beneficiaries of this research include political authorities, policymakers and public managers within the cultural sector. The longitudinal findings are tailored to serve as advisory input for designing effective policy frameworks, including adequate managerial autonomy guidelines, nomination processes, and oversight mechanisms. While impact is currently anticipated, the research offers a concrete diagnostic framework to anticipate and mitigate governance tensions. By promoting institutional stability, this work aims to foster predictable policy environments. Ultimately, this resilience protects the support ecosystems that artists and cultural professionals rely on, ensuring that public funding and strategic missions remain coherent despite political shifts.

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cultural policy,political-administrative relations,governance,public administration,cultural organisations