‘Decentralisaton’ is one of the most commonly held objectives in cultural policy in many nations. Yet it has remained under-theorised. This paper sketches out the theoretical complexities of the concept of decentralisation in cultural policy. It identifies different aspects of the term-cultural, fiscal, and political-, values attached to decentraliastion, and a variety of strategies for spatial diffusion of cultural activities. In practice, different concepts and definitions overlap and are in symbiosis in much discussion, despite the importance of conceptual distinctions this paper makes. Such clarification made in this paper is expected to serve as an analytical framework for empirical research.