ABSTRACT
If there is any general question that cuts across different national contexts for the development of cultural policy it is the appropriate relation between government and commercial cultural industries. This question has guided most comparative work in cultural policy studies, allowing us, for example, to compare ‘American’ models of film production, broadcasting or the visual arts and ‘European’ models, with their stronger emphasis on active government involvement and state patronage. It also often provides the framework for historical analysis, such as the voluminous work on the implications for cultural policy of ‘neoliberalism’ or the relative withdrawal of government as an active player in the cultural domain, in many countries over the past 30 years.
