Global Cultural Law and Policy and the Internet: A Tale of Parallel Worlds

Abstract

The article provides a comparison between the conventional venues of cultural policy-making, such as the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the newly emerged fora of global Internet governance. It juxtaposes the different actors, levels of legalization and institutionalization, the different decision-making mechanisms, the different framing of cultural diversity issues and the broader rhetorical and policy contexts. The article exposes the existing disconnect between these and ultimately reveals the ongoing marginalization of cultural concerns at the global level, as well as the inability of states as policy entrepreneurs to react to the changing regulatory environment.

Keywords: global cultural law and policy, trade and culture, cultural diversity, WTO, UNESCO, digital technologies, Internet, Internet governance