Arts, Culture and Heritage Management: Cultural Policy

Much recent discussion surrounding valuation of the arts and culture, particularly in the policy arena, has been dominated by a concern to identify an economic and financial basis for valuation of art works, arts, activities and more general ways in which we express our culture. Whereas a great deal can be gained from a fuller understanding of the economic value of art, there is a real danger that financial considerations will tend to crowd out all other aspects of value. This book moves beyond the limitations implicit in a narrow economic approach, bringing different disciplinary viewpoints together, opening up a dialogue between scholars about the processes of valuation that they use and exploring differences and identifying common ground between the various viewpoints.

On 16 December 1966 the United Nations adopted the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This was the first global treaty that established legal obligations on states to protect a range of important economic, social, and cultural rights. Forty years later the vast majority of States have ratified this treaty. Despite this history, there remains considerable debate, both within the literature and within the international community generally, about the concept and application of economic, social, and cultural rights. This collection gives a coherent analysis of many of the key issues, both in concept and in application, relevant to economic, social, and cultural rights. The authors of the chapters, many of whom are leading scholars in their fields with significant experience in practice, examine how the obligations to protect these rights have been applied today, including their application to the Security Council and to non-state actors, as well asin the context of development and dispossession. They provide important universal and regional comparative perspectives on the development and implementation of these rights, and consider some of the contemporary issues relating to these rights, such as trade, health, and social security.