Book Reviews

Abstract

The 'politics of art' is an openended subject which might admit consideration of any of a number of difficult and exciting issues, from the role of politics in the construction of art to the role of art as a political tool in the construction of the individual or nation, from the possibilities of art as a mechanism of political resistance or social change, to questions of international relations concerning cultural colonisation or the exploitation and appropriation of cultural products. At a more mundane level, there are political questions of whether the arts are to be encouraged by national governments, and if so to what extent and by what mechanisms the arts can and should be promoted. In Art, Culture and Enterprise, Lewis is concerned primarily with these latter questions of arts funding policy in the United Kingdom, and while the issues are somewhat parochial, they are certainly no less complex than the broader socio-