01301nas a2200121   4500000000100000008004100001100002000042245007900062300001000141490000700151520100700158022001401165                                       d1 aHanna Schreiber00aIntangible Cultural Heritage and Soft Power – Exploring the Relationship  a43-570 v123 aThis article presents the ‘soft power’ concept (Joseph Nye) and explores its relationship with the concept of intangible cultural heritage. Its main points of reference are thus the UNESCO 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as well as two chosen ‘soft power’ rankings: Soft Power 30 and the Elcano Global Presence Index. Member states of the European Union, as well as countries occupying important places in these rankings like the United States, the United Kingdom or China are of particular relevance. The author points out that a new kind of discourse has emerged alongside the ‘Authorised Heritage Discourse’ (Laurajane Smith) – the ‘Intangible Heritage Discourse’. She argues that UNESCO plays the role of an arbiter in both of these discourses, and subsequently analyses their possible impact on the position of particular countries in the ‘soft power’ rankings.  a1975-3586