On Reaching a Consensus: A Paradigm for the Inscription of Elements on the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Attached files | |
| Description | In the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage framework, consensus works like a magic word, an incantation. Why is a collaborative decision-making process so important in this context and how is it expressed? The authors of this paper have followed the Convention for more than ten years. They discovered that consensus building is a crucial concept used across all levels of governance. It is a paradigm that everybody relies on and calls for when diverging opinions appear. The paper examines how the 2003 Convention uses consensual decision-making as a collaborative process that involves the views of all stakeholders to reach a joint decision. It requires that all available options are discussed, their advantages and disadvantages are considered and that the final decision addresses everybody’s concerns. How does this process work in reality? And does it always bring the desired results? Based on concrete examples from the official and accompanying documents related to the Convention, ethnographic participant observation during the meetings and interviews with various stakeholders, as well as from the authors’ own experience, this chapter explores the variable use and expressions of consensus in relation to the 2003 Convention on three different levels. |
| Related projects: |