Abstract

This chapter analyses a particular case of cultural policy-making beyond and between nation-states, that of lusofonia, a postcolonial politico-linguistic bloc of Portuguese-language countries and peoples, in one of its institutional forms, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (in Portuguese, Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, CPLP). The purpose is to demonstrate how cultural policy can be conceptualised and practised outside of the usual framework of a single state and developed multilaterally to potentially impact different national public spheres, by connecting cultural policy and cultural diplomacy. The countries that are part of lusofonia –Portugal, Brazil, five African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe) and Timor-Leste (all former colonies of Portugal) – institutionalised their relationship in 1996 through the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and have as recently as 2014 welcomed into this organisation Equatorial Guinea.