Australian cultural policy studies, South African exceptionalism

This retrospective examines Tom O’Regan’s influence on South African cultural policy studies in light of the post-apartheid political transition, corruption and fallism. Implications for policy studies are discussed with regard to a recently liberated state that first, adopted Australian cultural policy precepts, and then closed them out 23 years later in response to the Rhodes Must Fall movement. Explanation is found not just in corruption and fallism, but in an inability to be outward-looking. The dialectical implications for policy studies are discussed.