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. Lusofonia, similar to other linguistic-cultural-political realities, can be seen as a new site for the development of cultural policies for collective identity building by an association of states, which in a traditional cultural diplomacy reading also allows for a particular representation of their unity in the international society. Most often the research and study of cultural policy focuses on the arts and related public policy processes and practices within the domestic realm of the state: national/internal cultural policy. Indeed, the development of a common/multilateral cultural policy and practice poses opportunities and challenges, which recent developments are only starting to explore. The chapter analyses a conceptualisation and practice of cultural policy at multilateral levels.
