UNESCO, Cultural Heritage and Outstanding Universal Value: Value-Based Analyses of the World Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage Conventions. Book review

UNESCO, Cultural Heritage, and Outstanding Universal Value explores how states parties to the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention have understood the core notion of this particular treaty – that is, ‘outstanding universal value’ – from 1972 until 2011. Specifically, it investigates whether state-level implementation reflected the objectives identified at the international level or, instead, whether ‘dissonances can be detected’ (2). Sophia Labadi’s analysis is based on two types of textual evidence: the official documents produced by expert groups and the World Heritage Committee (the intergovernmental committee charged with implementing the Convention); and the nomination files prepared by governments to justify their application for World Heritage status of specific sites. The book is grounded in value-based heritage conservation and, more broadly, in the interdisciplinary literature on heritage as a multifaceted phenomenon.