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The making and UN-making of consensus: Institutional inertia in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2021

Claudia Liuzza Open the ORCID record for Claudia Liuzza [Opens in a new window]
Claudia Liuzza*
Affiliation:
Rethinking Diplomacy Fellow, Duke Center for International and Global Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
*
*Corresponding author; Email: claudia.liuzza@duke.edu
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Abstract

This article examines the process of text-based negotiations surrounding the documents of the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It focuses on revisions to the Operational Guidelines of the Convention and utilizes ethnographic observation and textual examination to show how alternative, and often the most controversial, proposals are silenced through the practice of consensus. It expands anthropological perspectives on the inner workings of intergovernmental institutions and adds to the literature on heritage regimes by providing examples from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) most prestigious intergovernmental committee. Ultimately, the article enhances our understanding of the political tensions and practical limitations of policymaking within intergovernmental organizations in the United Nations, including UNESCO.

Type
Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 261 - 284
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International Cultural Property Society

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