Cosmopolitan internationalism : UNESCO’s ideological ambiguity and the difference/diversity problematic

Abstract
This article addresses the ways in which UNESCO’s ideological engagements are negotiated in the difference/diversity discourse as they are transferred from the international standard-setting level to the national and local contexts. It proposes the discursive construction of cosmopolitan internationalism as a framework for analysing the intersections of difference, located in the practicalities of internationalism, and diversity, tied to the ideals of cosmopolitanism, as they are manifested at the level of both the implementation of UNESCO’s Diversity Convention and urban policy making in the city of Sydney. The analysis suggests that ruptures challenging the homogenising diversity discourse rise from the national and local policy-making level, with such discourse simultaneously becoming an instrument for international differentiation. UNESCO’s normative cosmopolitan international tradition thus manifests itself as an obstacle against the emergence of transnational political spaces beyond the confines of the state, while it also carries with it a promise of facilitating such developments.
Main Authors
Format
Articles Research article
Published
2023
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202208254342Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1028-6632
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2022.2096879
Language
English
Published in
The International Journal of Cultural Policy
Citation
  • Huttunen, M., Mohammed, S. B., & Pyykkönen, M. (2023). Cosmopolitan internationalism : UNESCO’s ideological ambiguity and the difference/diversity problematic. The International Journal of Cultural Policy, 29(5), 543-557. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2022.2096879
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0Open Access
Copyright© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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