Cultural policy is emerging as an increasingly significant component of government policy formation at both national and international levels. Aspects of cultural policy that currently figure in government policy agendas include: the prospects for the creative industries as dynamic sources of innovation, growth and structural change in the so-called new economy; the role of the arts and culture in employment creation and income generation in towns and cities, especially those affected by industrial decline; the appropriate means by which governments can support the creative and performing arts; legal and economic questions concerning the regulation of intellectual property in cultural goods and services; and the possibilities for public/private partnerships in the preservation of cultural heritage. At an international level, the problems of dealing with cultural goods and services in trade are becoming every day more prominent in various multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations, while at the same time the newly ratified United Nations (UN) convention on cultural diversity is having important implications for cultural policy in both the developed and developing world.

There is a growing scholarly interest in the field of cultural policy in several countries. As I point out in the concluding chapter to this book, much of this interest derives from the critical cultural studies tradition that is now strongly established in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom (UK).