Abstract

The scope of this article is to single out some of the common thematic issues in the models of the governance of culture in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland, as analyzed in the other contributions to this number of the journal. Special attention has been focused on the following issues: institutional models of public intervention in the cultural field, with the dilemma Ministry of Culture/arm's length Agency; the diverging/converging relationships among the national and the local levels of government; the trends towards an increased public-private partnership; main strategies and priorities. Among the latter, a more or less strong commitment of the four countries on research and evaluation of the impact of their governance of culture has been underlined, along with a different emphasis put forward on the traditional priorities to be pursued by public policies in the field - heritage safeguard, support to artistic excellence and innovation and to wider participation and access - and on the new emerging priorities in a globalizing world: creative and artistic education, social inclusion and intercultural dialogue.