Current observational constraints on the dynamical evolution of star clusters are reviewed .
Theory and observations now agree nicely on the mass dependency and time scales for disruption of young star clusters in galactic disks , but many problems still await resolution .
The origin of the mass function of old globular clusters , and its ( near ) invariance with respect to host galaxy properties and location within the host galaxy remain prominent puzzles .
Most current models fail to reproduce the globular cluster mass function as a result of dynamical evolution from an initial power-law , except under very specific conditions which are not generally consistent with observations .
How well do we actually know the proper initial conditions ?
The cluster initial mass function ( CIMF ) seems to be consistent with a power-law with exponent \alpha \approx - 2 in most present-day star forming galaxies , but the limits of the mass range over which this approximation is valid remain poorly constrained both observationally and theoretically .
Furthermore , there are hints that some dwarf galaxies may have CIMFs which deviate from a power-law .