1. A system for managing distributed modality components using dialogue states of a multimodal application comprising: a processor means for initiating the multimodal application; means for determining a set of activation conditions associated with a dialogue state of the multimodal application; means for loading said activation conditions in the set of activation conditions into a modality component server having a shared memory and an interface, each of said activation conditions being linked to at least one programmatic action, wherein different programmatic actions are executed by different modality components, wherein each of said modality components publishes a set of programmatic actions for that modality component, and wherein a multimodal engine includes activation rules specify activation conditions and programmatic actions; means for monitoring said activation conditions; means for running the activation conditions and detecting an occurrence of one of said activation conditions based upon an application event; means for responsively initiating the at least one programmatic action; and means for updating the dialogue state upon execution of the at least one programmatic action.