Novos desafios e orientações das políticas culturais: tendências nas democracias desenvolvidas e especifidades do caso português

Abstract

NEW CHALLENGES AND TENDENCIES IN CULTURAL POLICIES: TRENDS INDEVELOPED DEMOCRACIES AND PORTUGUESE SPECIFICITIES – In the last twenty years of the 20th century, a vast range of interrelated changes took place in the most developed democratic societies, and their effects were felt in the economic as well as in the societal and political areas. One of the most successful theoretical frameworks used since then to interpret and explain all these changes has been the French regulationist school theory. This paper addresses a neglected issue in recent political, sociologicaland geographical studies on the post-Fordist transition in the more developed democratic societies: changes in cultural policies. After identifying the main changes in this area, this paper examines whether the changes that have occurred in cultural policies since mid-80s agree with what could be the cultural logic of a supposedly post-Fordist state, as the French regulationist theory sustains. Lastly, Portuguese specificities in this domain are explored and interpreted in the light of the semi-peripheral condition of the country.