Executive Summary

Cultural Diversity in Developing Countries: The Challenges Of Globalization.

Introduction

At the last INCP meeting in Lucern, Switzerland last year, we announced that the theme for this year's meeting in South Africa will be "Cultural diversity in developing countries, the challenges of globalisation". Looking at recent international developments, we could not have chosen a more appropriate theme. The WTO meeting of Ministers in Doha, Quatar in November 2001 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg reinforced the urgency in which particular issues that face developing countries need to be dealt with. In the WTO trade negotiations, this current round of negotiations has been termed the developmental round.

Cultural Diversity and Development

Products from developing countries are faced, not only with a lack of market access to the rich western countries, but the considerable strength of both infrastructural and financial muscle underpinning these markets. Likewise, an area of considerable importance for developing countries, especially those in Africa, is access to markets for the full range of cultural products. This would have the potential of both encouraging domestic cultural policy and reversing, at least in part, the heavy dependence on the export of primary commodities. Domestic cultural policy that promotes and ensures trade of cultural products is necessary for the development of new cultural forms and for sustaining the integrity of cultural production as an arena of creativity and social development.

It is important to acknowledge that the definitions of cultural diversity varies considerably between and among societies, and that for many cultural diversity encompasses the totality of values, institutions and forms of behaviour within a Society and the diversity of both human communities and biological ones since there is a fundamental link between the two. In simple terms, cultural diversity is the positive expression of this overarching objective to prevent the development of a uniform world by promoting and supporting all world cultures. In this sense, cultural diversity is both something that exists and needs to be promoted and preserved, and something that is yet to be achieved. This understanding of cultural diversity transcends narrow ethnic identity claims and is mindful of the legacies of racism and the process of development given the histories of displacement and centuries of human migration and movement.

For some, cultural diversity might appear as a minor issue that does not warrant substantial resources and time. But for many developing countries, cultural diversity is indeed a critical issue. Cultural diversity is a key component of development in that it promotes social cohesion, nation building, identity and pride. Cultural diversity is also a strategic resource for a country, and if successfully nurtured, could create prosperity (grown, productivity, and employment) for the country. Cultural diversity is embodied in products and performances of different sectors of society and ensures a diversity of domestic and foreign content.

In our globalising world, promoting and preserving cultural diversity also allows the holders of unique culture the ability to enter or adapt to a globalising world on their own terms rather than those of a dominant culture. This is fundamental to the successful participation of developing countries or countries in transition in the world economy. It is also fundamental to the ability of regional/local economies to withstand the disruptive influences of foreign economic forces and the consequent social problems and climate of dependency that ensue.

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Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion

The history of the world is full of religious strife, civil wars, and ethnic tensions. This is, and has been largely due to the absence or denial of free cultural expression as embodied in cultural diversity. While these tensions are found in both developed and developing countries, their impact on developing countries is more acute due to their social and economic infrastructure. Cultural diversity is therefore intractably linked and cannot be divorced from the economic, social, political and development goals.

The link between social and economic development and cultural diversity is now well established. The 1995 UNESCO Report on the World Commission on Culture and Development "Our Creative Diversity" highlighted the recognition and importance of cultural diversity to social and economic development. This was a major departure from previous views that held that culture was an obstacle to development. Multilateral constitutions like the IMF and World Bank are beginning to recognise this.

Developing countries often have enormous development challenges and their priorities do not necessarily include the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity. Taking South Africa as a point of departure for instance, development priorities include issues of reconstruction, nation building, transformation, social cohesion, meeting basic needs (water, shelter, electricity, food) etc. These priorities are privileged. However, our constitution is quite categorical and upholds key principles that underlie diversity e.g. the constitution's position on languages, gender, ethnic minorities etc.

The South African constitution makes provision for the creation of a gender commission, to ensure that gender issues are taken seriously and gender discrimination is eliminated. The Youth commission was established to deal with issues that affect our young people. We also have a Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB), this is mandated to promote and preserve our language diversity. The Human Rights commission was created to monitor and evaluate adherence to human rights principles by organs of state, civil society and the private sector. We recently passed a media diversity law. The law is aimed at ensuring that all spheres of our diverse society are reflected and find expression in the media.

In many developing countries the promotion and protection of culture has at times been encouraged at the expense of cultural diversity. We take as a point of departure for this paper the view that the world's cultural diversity is a source of great wealth and that the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity can be a factor for social cohesion and development of the globe.

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Cultural Policies

In developing countries the role of culture on development policies is not well established. There are many issues resulting from this: first, cultural policies are not consolidated as public policies, and, second, the cultural sector does not impact sufficiently on the direction of development policies and, in fact, will not do so until it itself is strengthened as a sector. Nor will the cultural sector transform and evolve with development. This is despite the fact that cultural sectors contribute massively to the achievement of development objectives, including access to information, diffusion of cultural values and ideas, nation building and social cohesion.

Research reveals that developing countries have a rich and a varried array of talent and cultural assets with a very uneven development of cultural sectors or cultural industries in their domestic economies. In many cases, however, these cultural sectors and cultural industries have been able to survive despite a lack of cultural policies in their respective countries.

The existence of cultural policies in developing countries would provide a broad framework for government tools to:

1. to promote and conserve natural and cultural heritage,
2. support artistic expression,
3. give support to creative expression and dialogue,
4. ensure that creative industries grow and thrive.

In this way, governments will create the conditions in which cultural diversity may thrive and set the context within which such diversity is to be pursued. It is the responsibility of governments to facilitate a national discourse and practice that underpins and supports cultural policies. This national discourse needs to include artists, intellectuals and cultural practitioners to ensure a strong national commitment to the values of each country's culture or cultures and its development.

Just as policies of biodiversity preservation are needed to guarantee the protection of natural ecosystems and the diversity of species, only adequate cultural policies can ensure the preservation of the creative diversity against the risks of a single homogenising culture. The cultural exemption argument is just one of the possible means for achieving this objective of promoting cultural diversity. It must be acknowledged that these cultural goods and services (books, music, multimedia games, films and audiovisuals) are different from other goods and services, and deserve different and/or exceptional treatment that sets them apart from standardised mass consumption. Obviously, this requires a differential treatment in international trade agreements and possibly effective strong regulatory frameworks to redefine cultural policies focusing on the promotion and development of cultural industries.

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Cultural Industries in Developing Countries

In developing countries, artistic talents and the country's cultural heritage are not fully exploited commercially. Their contributions to local job creation and foreign exchange earning are limited. This sector is to some extent neglected in the majority of developing countries. This is contrary to what occurs in developed countries, where the sector contributes to a significant proportion of gross national product. Yet there are many examples of artistic creations or of cultural products deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of developing countries which have crossed borders and established significant market niches in a large number of industrialised countries. Music from Africa and Latin America, sculptures inspired from Africa, textiles and fashion from Africa and Latin America, video documentaries, and dance forms from Africa etc. However, the commercialisation of these cultural transfers has often not benefited the countries of origin.

Cultural industries can play a more important role in the economies of these countries with government support, through a clearly articulated cultural policy and appropriate measures to promote the various sectors, and, in particular, to promote what may be called cultural entrepreneurship. Cultural entrepreneurship focuses on the sustainability of the enterprise (whether supported by founders or income generating) and has, as its objective, social and cultural purposes (such as the empowerment of women) and not necessarily that of profit. Women are frequently involved as the primary producers of many cultural products (sometimes-specialising in particular crafts, processes or services, but often find themselves having to sell and market their products through male-dominated intermediaries and supply chains. There is an opportunity for empowering these producers of cultural products and ensuring that they generate decent incomes from their productive efforts, as well as linking them to market opportunities.

This is contrary to what occurs in developed countries, where artistic talents, which are deeply rooted in the national cultural heritage, are fully exploited by a wide range of individuals and firms for the benefit of both the artists and the economies of these countries. In these countries, artists are able to draw on sophisticated support mechanisms and can seek the help of agents in order to develop a market niche. Manufacturers and distribution channels ensure the commercialisation of an artist's creations. Sectoral associations of artists lobby on behalf of their members in order to help them acquire rights accorded to other workers (social, security, unemployment benefits, pension, etc.). Artistic creations are protected against copying by national intellectual property organisations. In addition, a dense web of public and private organisations encourage and protect artistic creation and, in many cases, the preservation of the cultural heritage.

A serious consequence of the limited commercialisation of cultural and artistic creations on both the domestic and foreign market is a gradual impoverishment of the cultural heritage of countries. This is because talented people may not be attracted by a career as an artist, musician, filmmaker or craft worker, rooted in the country's cultural heritage, if this is not going to provide them with a decent income. Many factors may explain this state of affairs, including:

1. Limited national market demand, resulting from a low purchasing power of the majority of the population, which does not create the economies of scale required for the local commercialisation of artistic and cultural creations, and by extension, their export on terms favourable to the country,
2. Limited capacity to adapt artistic creations and 'cultural' goods to the characteristics of demand in industrialized countries and to evolving demand in domestic markets,
3. Limited production, commercial and distribution infrastructure, including access to international advertising. This is a direct result of the limited domestic and foreign investments in the cultural sector of developing countries as well as the absence of clearly articulated and funded cultural policy frameworks in developing countries. Paradoxically, some developing countries use scarce foreign exchange to import artistic productions based on their own culture and/or produced by their own nationals (e.g. music CD ROMs).

A combination of the extensive influence exerted by some foreign cultures on the younger people, that may view their own culture as being inferior to the foreign ones, and the more attractive conditions offered to local artists by industrialized countries, that induce them to immigrate to these countries, has resulted in a 'leakage of talent'. This occurs between developed and developing countries as well as within regions of the developing world as well.

In the SADC region, there are inspiring examples that clearly show that it is possible for individuals and enterprises to overcome the above constraints and succeed in commercialising artistic creations at home and abroad, particularly in the fields of music, film, video production, visual arts, crafts and performing arts and dance.

In short, these are some of key features in developing countries:

1. Developing countries have cultural assets and cultural products, they do not necessarily have fully-fledged cultural industries,
2. Developing countries do not possess the capital required for the development of competitive infrastructure in the cultural sector, especially with respect to the distribution of cultural products,
3. Developing countries are only beginning to address the challenges of establishing cultural and media infrastructure where basic technological infrastructure is still absent or underdeveloped,
4. Developing countries, in particular the SADC region, have many cultural initiatives that focus on arts, music, film, theatre, dance and festivals, but not the necessary cultural policy frameworks or measures to support these sectors. However, there also exists a dichotomy between adoption of policies and implementation.

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The Impact of Globalisation on Cultural Diversity in Developing Countries

Globalisation has both positive and negative impacts on developing countries ability to achieve their cultural policy objectives. The negative impacts for cultural diversity consist primarily of the homogenizing effect of globalisation which shape a collective consciousness of 'modernity'.

It is important to note that cultural industries are not yet an important element of developing countries' economies. However, these same countries have accepted the trend towards more open markets and 'free' trade. In particular, they recognise the need to ensure predictability and certainty in a rules-based context. This means that domestic cultural policies cannot be developed and implemented in isolation and indeed, challenges governments to negotiate trade agreements that recognise cultural diversity and the particular nature of cultural goods and services.

Globalisation impacts on developing countries through changes in ownership and control of media, telecommunications infrastructure and the extent of connectivity of the population as well as the increased movement of artists, cultural producers and tourists. Globalisation also affects the range of tools (the toolbox) that governments use to preserve and promote the diversity of cultural expression. A positive impact for the developing countries from technology for instance, is the improved means of communication and interaction that derive from low cost network technologies and the Internet. Other technologies such as that used for music recording, video recording and editing is now cheaper and simpler. Cultural diversity can be fostered by certain aspects of globalisation such as the interaction across boundaries which leads to a mixing of cultures in particular places and practice; the fact that cultural flows occur differently in different spheres and may originate in many places; the reactions and resistance that result from integration, the spread of ideas and images and the range of interpretations of global norms or practices from local tradition.

Negative impacts include an accelerated converging entertainment content, 'leakage' of talent, industry consolidation and internationalisation of production in audio visual works affecting both ownership and cultural content. In response to this, for instance, South Africa's policy on media ownership is one in which foreign ownership is limited to 20% for broadcasting whereas in print media the regulation is less restrictive. As a developing country South Africa feels the pressure and impact of globalisation since up to 90% of its media landscape is filled with non South African media. Its broadcasting system (both radio and television) has a high concentration of foreign media especially US imported programming. However, more important than this is the loss of identity, sense of community, personal esteem and a sense of belonging to one's own culture. There is no doubt that a strong cultural policy will promote local and indigenous media sectors that can compete in the global arena.

However, in addition to these negative impacts, other interesting dynamics of globalisation may present opportunities or at minimum impose challenges for developing countries. There are, for instance, the many different platforms to deliver content, convergence of telecommunications, exponential growth of computing and content industries, vertical and horizontal (cross-media) ownership, increasing knowledge and concern about competition and copyright, the mega merger trend, expanded and contracted consumers choice and diversity of content and the creation and control of content. These all pose both opportunities and threats to the cultural sector. The opportunities derive from the increased opportunities for creative content generation and production, greatly enhanced distribution and promotional capacity for cultural products, and the simple but revolutionary fact of interactivity, where every consumer can also become a creator/producer of cultural values and products. These opportunities are less significant in the developing countries but remain possible for pockets of cultural producers. Nevertheless, aspects of globalisation, such as new information technology also serves to increase dialogue and communication between cultures, giving rise to the possibility of increased awareness and respect for cultural diversity and allowing for its expression.

The threats, on the other hand, are more significant for developing countries. They come in the form of a massive and disabling "digital divide" both within and between countries, in which, as Guiomar Alonso from UNESCO asserts 96% of the world's people do not have access to the Internet and 50% have never made a telephone call. These massive inequalities in the distribution of access to communications and digital capacity pose perhaps the most urgent 'infrastructural' problems relating to the contemporary and emerging field of cultural policy and stresses the need for thinking and acting in coordinated ways between policy fields of industry, communications, community development and culture".

The challenges of globalisation for the preservation of traditional culture and the sustainability of traditional practices are equally ambiguous. Internationally there is concern amongst critics of ethno-tourism that is subverts important heritage and spirituality and reduces it to trivialised entertainment for the global tourist. Supporters counter this argument by pointing-out that cultural tourism has many beneficial impacts including revitalising cultural interest, income generation and employment creation. This exposure to global demand and global tourism is however, fraught with dangers. As with heritage, global tourism can pose a threat to indigenous knowledge and intellectual property rights, traditional technologies, religions, sacred sites, social structures and relationships, wildlife, ecosystems, economics and basic rights to informed understanding by reducing indigenous people to simply another consumer product that is quickly becoming exhaustible.

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What Kind of Instrument would be Needed by Developing Countries to Promote and Preserve Cultural Diversity?

The INCP is in the process of developing an international instrument to promote and preserve cultural diversity. This paper has highlighted a number of concerns for developing countries. Any instrument developed would need to accommodate development priorities and concerns in such a way as to assist developing countries' ability to pursue their development priorities and cultural policy objectives.

Many developing countries still view social and economic development as different and isolated from and at times contradictory to cultural diversity. Hence, resources, budgets and personnel are not allocated to the cultural policy component of government nor are other more traditional components of development linked to cultural policy programmes or principles. Many developing countries do not have a clearly articulated cultural policy framework that guides the government's work from heritage, museums, linguistic diversity, and the visual and performing arts to the more commercial activities of the cultural industries. The instrument should perform the function of a set of guidelines to governments who wish to promote and preserve cultural diversity. The instrument would need to be mindful of the differential capacity of developing countries to honour these agreements whilst at the same time encouraging the development of a clearly articulated cultural policy framework in these countries.

As an extension to the above, the instrument needs to recognise and accommodate both future cultural policy frameworks, as well as future as yet unspecified cultural measures, and importantly, to encourage member states to adopt measures to ensure the development of domestic cultural expression. This ought probably to have a time-frame obligation attached. The instrument, to have effect, needs to impose obligations on participating parties and be an enforceable agreement.

A critical role of the instrument is to provide a framework for support (financial and technical expertise) and cooperation between North and South, South and South (e.g. South America and Southern Africa), countries within a specified region (e.g. SADC, Mercosur and between countries with a particular cultural affinity (e.g. all Lusophone countries). The establishment of cultural observatories has been found to greatly facilitate policy development and evaluation and could be supported to achieve these goals.

The instrument also needs to assert the importance of the promotion of domestic cultural expression and the importance of being open to others. This openness is inherent in the concept of cultural diversity. It therefore precludes xenophobia or cultural exclusivity within domestic policies. In this way the instrument is able to operate as a guiding principle for developing countries that have not yet developed a coherent cultural policy.

The development of policy on cultural diversity should be mindful of global disparities that may have a direct bearing on cultural industries in developing countries. The promotion of cultural diversity is not intended to further entrench these disparities but to spell out the terms on which cross-cultural dialogue and creativity may be fostered. An instrument to address cultural diversity and globalisation needs to take account of the agency of cultural producers and intermediaries. Every day cultural agents make choices about what to communicate and to export, what to import and graft, when to shift cross-border allegiances and target new markets and audiences, and when to reshuffle their own cultural repertoire to bolster or transform their traditions and heritages.

It would be important to ensure that the instrument does not overlap significantly in its scope with other texts, declarations or agencies. The instrument needs to be mindful, for instance, of other rights already enshrined elsewhere and which members have a positive obligation to ensure. This is to avoid a duplication or layering of sanctions to be taken against members who do not uphold either human rights or rights of freedom of expression and of information. It is also important to simplify the system of obligation.

A critical issue for the instrument is that it does not further exacerbate the uneven development between developed and developing countries. This could arise, for example, if the instrument were to provide for an obligation on governments to set aside budget to provide financial support to cultural organisations or groups, promote and develop their creative industries or promote and preserve their cultural heritage, developing countries may find themselves further disadvantaged as developed countries are able to ensure this financial support while developing countries are not able, at this point, to provide subsidies to its cultural sectors and cultural industries.

The instrument would need to pay particular attention to media issues. These could include measures and policy instruments aimed at promoting the capacity of developing countries to produce a variety of audio visual products and services locally and internationally and clear strategic framework proposals that could guide and inform audio visual policy or programmes between developed countries and developing countries and member states of economies in transition. It would be important to locate audio visual industries as vehicles for transmitting intangibles that are of great importance to developing countries cultural values, identity and shared experiences and therefore could not be seen as mere market commercial commodities. The impact of technological change and how this change may be beneficial to developing countries could be addressed by outlining how new technology will offer the developing world the opportunity to reach new markets and new audiences and in identifying niche markets to supply audiovisual services globally.

International co-operation between North and South and also between stronger developing countries in a particular region and the other countries of that region (e.g. South Africa in the SADC region, Mexico in the Mercosur region) should be reinforced by the instrument in order to overcome structural imbalance in cultural exchanges. It can do this through ensuring that financial support is attached to cooperation and solidarity as well as technical assistance and support mechanisms from 'richer' nations to 'developing' ones and 'economies in transition'. This includes specifically developing a permanent portfolio of exemplary programmes allowing for the dissemination and learning of best practice from similarly positioned member states. Each country would need to coordinate the private sector, government and non-governmental role-players in order to build on and resource existing efforts in practical ways. Given the varying conditions in developing countries, the governance structures would need to acknowledge the different needs of all the countries and establish a continuum of intervention to developing countries.

Finally, this paper notes that at the root cultural diversity is the demand for the expression of discrepant experiences of the process of global inter-relatedness. More specifically, it is the demand to guard against the overt randomisation and dispersal of culture in the light of emerging processes of trade liberalisation. The development of an instrument that addresses the pressures on cultural diversity emanating from the process of trade liberalisation must demonstrate its commitment to the articulation of these discrepant histories.

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