This number is dedicated to Austrian cultural policy.

The opening article by Wimmer provides an overview of eighty years of cultural policy in Austria, highlighting the construction of a national self-image as culture nation. Grisold examines the impact of the EU's economic and competition rules on the Austrian media landscape. Tschmuck analyses the ambiguous results of transforming the main cultural institutions into autonomous corporations under public law.

Of special interest is the article by Mokre who approaches cultural policy from a democratic theory perspective; she describes different ways of understanding democracy and the role of cultural politics and questions the democratic quality of Austrian culture and media policies.

The Symposium section is complemented by a theoretical note by Mulcahy who reviews the principles of public cultural policy.