Cultural policy regimes and arts councils. The longue durée perspective, birth of the state, religious trajectories and national cultural policies

Abstract

The cultural policy orientation of European countries has usually been interpreted in the light of political ideological factors or the model of the welfare state. However, while these dimensions explain part of cultural policy’s evolution in the second half of the 20th century, they overlook the influence of earlier factors affecting the state’s trajectory (especially absolutism) and the persistent influence of religious denomination on culture. To grasp the relationship between the state and culture, one needs to realise that Protestantism wields a significant influence in some countries (especially in variants such as Non-Conformism). These factors can be identified in the Eurostat surveys and statistics, providing that one adopts Braudel’s longue durée [long-term] perspective and the comparative historical institutionalism proposed by Tilly. This perspective lets us see continuities and interpret them in a multidimensional way and to suggest a different classification of the cultural regimes found among European countries.