cultural diversity as a concept of global law origins, evolution and prospects全球文化多样性作为一个概念的法律起源、进化和前景.pdfVIP

Diversity 2010, 2, 1059-1084; doi:10.3390/d2081059 OPEN ACCESS diversity ISSN 1424-2818 /journal/diversity Article Cultural Diversity as a Concept of Global Law: Origins, Evolution and Prospects Mira Burri World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; E-Mail: mira.burri@; Tel.: +41-31-631-54-92. Received: 25 June 2010; in revised form: 22 July 2010 / Accepted: 23 July 2010 / Published: 5 August 2010 Abstract: “Cultural diversity” has become one of the latest buzzwords on the international policymaking scene. It is employed in various contexts—sometimes as a term close to “biological diversity”, at other times as correlated to the “exception culturelle” and most often, as a generic concept that is mobilised to counter the perceived negative effects of economic globalisation. While no one has yet provided a precise definition of what cultural diversity is, what we can observe is the emergence of the notion of cultural diversity as incorporating a distinct set of policy objectives and choices at the global level. These decisions are not confined, as one might have expected, to cultural policymaking, but rather spill over to multiple governance domains because of the complex linkages inherent to the simultaneous pursuit of economic and other societal goals that cultural diversity encompasses and has effects on. Accounting for these intricate interd