Managing Culture at Diversity s Expense? Thoughts on UNESCO s Newest Cultural Policy Instrument

In a fourth round of negotiations in October 2005, the United Nations Education,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) formally approved a “Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions.” Abbreviated as the “cultural diversity convention”, this new legal instrument takes its place alongside a growing list of UNESCO cultural policy initiatives. Negotiations for this convention were unusually hotly contested,however,generating more media attention than most UNESCO efforts. Sustained coverage of the protracted deliberations was a testament to the extent that culture has come to matter—if in a variety of different ways—for global affairs. Precisely because of the increasing attention given the culture concept for human rights,in social movements,for sustainable development,diplomacy,and new cultural industries,it is particularly incumbent on those of us working in diverse cultural fields to try to sort out where cultural policy making is heading.