Trade and Culture in International Law: Paths to (Re)Conciliation

Journal of World Trade, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 49-80, 2010

NCCR Trade Regulation Working Paper No. 2009/44

36 Pages Posted: 25 Feb 2009 Last revised: 17 Sep 2013

Date Written: December 2, 2009

Abstract

The UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity marks a wilful separation between the issues of trade and culture on the international level. The present article explores this intensified institutional, policy- and decision-making disconnect and exposes its flaws and the considerable drawbacks it brings with it. These drawbacks, the article argues, become particularly pronounced in the digital media environment that has impacted upon both the conditions of trade with cultural products and services and upon the diversity of cultural expressions in local and global contexts. Criticising the strong and now increasingly meaningless path dependencies of the analogue age, the article sketches some possible ways to reconciling trade and culture, most of which lead back to the WTO, rather than to UNESCO.

Keywords: trade, culture, WTO, UNESCO, cultural diversity, audiovisual services, digital media

Suggested Citation

Burri, Mira, Trade and Culture in International Law: Paths to (Re)Conciliation (December 2, 2009). Journal of World Trade, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 49-80, 2010, NCCR Trade Regulation Working Paper No. 2009/44, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1349089 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1349089

Mira Burri (Contact Author)

University of Lucerne ( email )

Frohburgstrasse 3
PO Box 4466
Lucerne, 6002
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.unilu.ch/mira-burri

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