COOPERATION AMONG
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
IN THE DIGITAL AGE:
LESSONS FROM INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS’ PURPOSES AND
PRACTICES IN THE CULTURAL
SECTOR
Antonios Vlassis, Center for International Relations Studies, University of Liege, Belgium
Introduction
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of
the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE)
Promote the CDCE in the digital era through
operational guidelines on digital issues
Report ‘For A Diversified Networked Culture’:
43% of respondents estimate that existing
cooperation among intergovernmental
organizations (IOs) within the CDCE
Introduction
Original view on the global governance of cultural industries Networking among IOs
What are the objectives of such inter-organizational cooperation? What are the factors contributing to this novel form of cooperation? And what would be the role of networking among IOs in view of
the CDCE implementation in a context of digital transition?
IOs and CDCE meetings
Objectives of the IOs networking
Cooperation among IOs and digital technologies Factors leading to IOs’ cooperation behavior
A. International organizations
and CDCE
Intergovernmental organizations Number of participations (2007-2015)
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) 14
Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie 14
Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization 9
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 7
Council of Europe 5
Latin Union 5
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 4
Commonwealth Foundation 3
Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 3
Organization of Islamic Cooperation 3
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) 2
B. Purposes of
inter-organizational cooperation
Four purposes
1.
Technical assistance and policy-oriented analysis
a.Expert facility project, UNESCO-European Union, first
international project to make the CDCE operational at the
country level
b.
‘Culture and development’ and the Millennium
Development Goals, 18 joint programs, financial allocation of
95.6 million USD, UNESCO-UNDP and several UN agencies
c.Strengthening the creative industries in five ACP
countries through employment and trade expansion,
UNESCO-UNCTAD-ILO
d.
Development of Clusters in Cultural and Creative
Industries in the Southern Mediterranean,
B. Purposes of
inter-organizational cooperation
2. Financial assistance: interregional funds and EU as a core
actor
a. ACP Cultures+ Program, EU-ACP Group of States, 30 million euros b. Mercosur Audiovisual, EU-Mercosur, 1.5 million euros
3. Building conceptual frameworks
Creative economy reports (2008, 2010, 2013), UN multi-agency informal group on Creative Industries (UNCTAD, UNESCO, WIPO, ILO, UNDP, International Trade Center)
4. Collecting and analyzing information
UN Interagency Technical Working Group on Cultural Industries Statistics, UNDP, UNESCO Institute of Statistics, UNIDO, and the WIPO, Document: Statistics on Cultural Industries: Framework for the
C. Digital technologies in
inter-organizational cooperation
Five projects financed by ACP Cultures+, total budget of 2.5
million euros
3D Distribution Project, Capital numérique, Digital United ACP,
Caribbean Film Mart and Virtual Marketplace, Culture Works
Connections.
Expert facility project, four missions dealing with digital
aspects (Honduras, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles)
Mercosur audiovisual program, network of 30 digital
cinema theatres
D. Factors for
inter-organizational cooperation
Domain similarity and common interests of IOs on a
specific issue
Scarcity of human, epistemic or economic resources of
an IO or the mutual dependence of resources among
IOs to address a major issue
Multidimensional, multifaceted and transnational
nature of an issue
External pressure from national governments or civil
society
