Introduction

The tenth anniversary of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is prime time to take stock of its strengths and weaknesses. It is, after all, the centerpiece of international cooperation to safeguard the intangible heritage. It is fundamentally an instrument of dispute avoidance. Modeled on the World Heritage Convention, it has attracted 154 States Parties, most of whom have nominated "practices, representations, expressions, knowledge or skills" for inclusion on either the Convention's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural ...