The Thesisd rawso n the argumentst,h emesa nd issuest hat haveb eend evelopedth rougha number of publications concerning the politics of arts and cultural policy.The Thesis contains a development of the commodification thesis and the policyattachmenat rgument Thesen ew approachetso the analysiso f public policy haveb eenspecifically applied to arts and cultural policy. The major focus of this application hasbeeno n Britain over the last 50 years,a nd has incorporatedn ational,r egionala nd locallevelso f analysis.I n additiond evelopmentisn Europeh aveb eenc onsidered.A major theme concerns the necessity for methodological pragmatism in undertakingresearch within these policy areas. Such an approach allows for the development ofappropriate analytical tools for complex policy systems.The validity and utility of the commodificationth esisa ndp olicy attachmenat rgumenat stools for policy analysis are discussed.December 2003