thin red line : international and European tensions between the cultural and economic objectives and policies towards the cultural industries

Article provides an adequate conceptual framework from where to initiate the debate on the establishment of an 'made-to-measure' international cultural industries policy. In doing so it contains, regarding WTO, UNESCO and EU, an overview; firstly, of the debate on and definition of the cultural industries; secondly, of the regulation applying to the cultural industries; and thirdly, the scope of and the contradictions between them. The article argues that the scope and the hierarchy of the rules and the agreements in force will be decisive for the international approach (whether economic or culturally oriented or both) of the cultural industries.