Introduction

 

The reference framework for cultures and civilizations has undergone profound changes during recent times. First, the social perception of the role of cultures and civilizations for the future of mankind has increased. Secondly, a broad range of legal and operational materials focusing on cultures have been produced by the UN system and other intergovernmental organisations. Thirdly, discussions on the role of cultures and civilizations in the developed and underdeveloped  worlds have expanded throughout scientific milieus. Finally, the media and non-governmental organisations have attributed increasing importance to this subject area, thereby influencing public opinion.

 

In 2001, the UN Year of Dialogue among Civilizations was celebrated. Changes in the reference framework that have arisen since then lead us to believe that the 2001 event could be effectively followed by another event, where the role of intercultural and intercivilizational relationships would be framed in the changes which have recently taken place in the reference framework.

 

Following the approach adopted by the participants in the International Workshop on Cultures and Civilizations for Human Development (Roma, 12-14 December 2005), supported by broad collaboration among scientific and intergovernmental milieus as a result of that event, this paper aims to show how essential it is to implement the approach undertaken in 2001, and to optimise the subsequent outcomes, focusing on the need for a new World Order which avoids creating obstacles in terms of an unequal footing and issuing dictates.

 

Implementation of the approaches and optimisation of the outcomes may be pursued by proclaiming a UN Year aimed at encouraging co-operation among cultures and civilizations as a tool for the development of local systems facing globalising processes, and to improve human conditions. For the first time, the proposal to address cultures and civilizations comes from the scientific community, which expresses a willingness to move from mere academic discussions on cultures and civilizations towards the initiation of discussions and actions involving society as a whole.

 

 

The UN years on cultures and civilizations

 

By adopting Resolution 53/22 on 4 November 1998, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2001 as the International Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. Recognising that "positive and mutually beneficial interaction among civilizations has continued throughout human history despite impediments arising from intolerance, disputes and wars" and stating that "civilizational achievements constitute the collective heritage of mankind, providing a source of inspiration and progress for humanity at large", the proclamation of that UN year was considered to be functional to a "collective endeavour of the international community to enhance understanding through constructive dialogue among civilizations on the threshold of the third millennium".

 

This proclamation was made in the context of a multifaceted reference framework which was moving towards rapid and profound changes. Pressure from international terrorism was intensifying, reaching its peak on 11 September 2001, precisely during the celebration of the UN year, thus engendering wide-ranging shock which frustrated the effectiveness of the event. Meanwhile globalising processes, particularly those influencing the features and role of developing economies, were spreading and influencing the role of local and indigenous cultures. Contextually, input from the UN system, based on the 2000 UN Millennium Declaration and the subsequent definition of the Millennium Development Goals, was about to involve cultures too.

 

Since 2001, changes in the reference framework have evolved quickly, with marked, wide-ranging consequences. International terrorism has expanded, and action against this geopolitical phenomenon has resulted in wars; globalisation has strengthened and impacted on local economic systems and cultures; the Implementation Plan adopted by the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) has been put into operation; conventions on intangible cultures and cultural diversities have been adopted by UNESCO; and the intellectual milieus have intensified their discussions on interaction between cultures and civilisations,  particularly on dialogue between religions.

 

These circumstances lead us to believe that a new initiative could help not only to complement the efforts made in 2001, but also to broaden the relevant social benefits. This is why the proclamation of a United Nations Year of Cultures and Civilizations for Human Development (UNYCCHD) is being proposed. The following sections will focus on the specific reasons underlying this proposal, and will present the cardinal operational fields which would constitute the basis of the social benefits.

 

 

The background conceptual endowment

 

Resolutions, conventions and action plans drawn up by intergovernmental organisations are quite reluctant to provide clearly defined concepts of culture, and are even more reluctant to distinguish “culture” from “civilization”, to the point that frequently these concepts are used to refer to the same reality. In the scientific literature, these concepts are presented in various ways, and the distinction between culture and civilization varies according to the philosophical stream. Nevertheless, some conceptualisation should be used in order to optimise the approach of intergovernmental organisations.

 

The starting point of such an approach could consist of sharing two assumptions: i) culture and civilization are distinct, but interrelated realities; ii) culture and civilization are perceived and conceptualised in various ways according to each human community; therefore a multi-perspective approach, sensitive to individual designs and visions from all parts of the world, is needed.

 

To address this need, it would be helpful if the materials proclaiming the UN Year could emphasise that, throughout history:

 

1. humankind has created a multitude of cultures, which presently form a rich, unprecedented heritage;
2. some cultures have implemented their instrumental tangible and intangible endowment to the point of generating civilisations;
3. past and present civilizations form the fulcrum of the wealth constituted by cultures;
4. cultures, and even more so, civilisations, have always been characterised by mutual relationships, which have strongly contributed to the evolution and advancement of mankind.

 

Moreover, to optimise consideration of and respect for individual cultures, it would be useful if the principle that there is no hierarchy among cultures and among civilizations could be included.  On the strength of this background principle, it follows that all the approaches of individual human communities should be regarded as essential to strengthening and spreading human solidarity on the global scale.

 

 

The role of an Action Plan

 

As has been experienced in recently proclaimed UN Years, the success and effectiveness of these initiatives widely depend on the design and operation of an Action Plan. As far as the cultures and civilizations for human development initiative is concerned, the relevant Plan could include actions concerned with four crucial operational arenas:

 

1. research — where conceptual designs, together with an exploration of the multitude of perspectives through which cultures and civilizations are regarded by human communities, could be the main components;

 

2. communication — where actions aimed at implementing the social perception of the need for intercultural and intercivilizational co-operation, together with actions aimed at collaborating with the media, are embraced;

 

3. education — where the production of hard and electronic educational tools, such as manuals and e-based products, should be tailored to the needs of all educational systems. In this respect, efforts will be concentrated on helping university departments educate students to become teachers sensitive to the cultures and civilizations problématique.

 

4. co-operation with decision-making systems — particularly with intergovernmental organisations, international non-governmental organisations and governmental agencies.

 

 

Consistency with the UNESCO approaches

 

Efforts recently made by UNESCO to protect and value cultures should be regarded as cardinal components of change, which the reference framework pertaining to the culture and civilization problématique has undergone since 2001.

 

In 2003, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage broadened the operational field with regard to culture considerably, because as a result of the 1972 Convention on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, only tangible heritage had been focused on until then. Practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills were included in the operational area of international collaboration (Article 1). In this respect, a range of domains relating to intellectual and spiritual manifestations — such as oral traditions and expressions, language, performing arts, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe — became essential components of UNESCO's actions (Article 2). This legal tool had a huge innovative role because it aims not only to expand UNESCO's operational arena, but also to widen the concept of culture. Consequently, a UN Year could effectively complement and implement the approach adopted for the 2001 UN Year by using a more extended concept of culture. In particular, this event could emphasise the safeguarding of the indigenous and marginal cultures constantly threatened around the world by mainstream cultures, including the high-tech culture and the increasing pace of consumerism, materialism and individualism. 

 

In 2005, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was adopted, inter alia with the aim of creating the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner, encouraging dialogue among cultures with a view to ensuring wider and more balanced cultural exchanges in the world in favour of intercultural respect and a culture of peace,  fostering interculturality in order to develop cultural interaction in the spirit of building and strengthening  international cooperation and solidarity in a spirit of partnership (Article 1). The significance of this recent approach is due not only to the fact that the cultural diversity concept has joined that of biological diversity — the focus of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity — but also because it was drawn up with the explicit referral to intercultural dialogue. As a result, the approach to culture adopted for the 2001 UN Year could be effectively implemented by using an explicit and well-defined concept of cultural diversity. In this respect, the concept of cultural diversity merits being linked with that of cultural identity, since the protection and valuing of diversity requires cultural identities to be recognized and respected.

 

 

The relevance of social perception

 

In recent times, intercultural and intercivilizational dialogue have been increasingly and widely perceived by human communities as only, or essentially, relevant to peace and prospects for peace. This perception has been triggered by a broad range of factors, from geopolitical events to discussions in the media and by opinion makers. Therefore, a reductive perception of culture and civilization, particularly a non-constructive concept of intercultural and intercivilizational dialogue, have become widespread. As far as cultures are concerned, the feeling that the principle goal of encouraging dialogue between them is to prevent armed conflict among human communities, tension among ethnic groups, religious discrimination and so on, has coloured society’s perception. As far as civilizations are concerned, a similar reductive perception has become widespread because only the relationship between Islam and Western civilization has been perceived as pertinent to the problématique of our times; thus other civilizations have been overlooked. Moreover, a non-constructive perception has spread because dialogue among civilizations has been widely thought of as a tool to prevent human communities from harm, particularly from harm caused, or at least influenced, by conflicts between religions.

 

This perception should be eliminated, and an alternative, constructive social perception should be promoted. The valuing of cultures and civilizations through the establishment of effective co-operation should be perceived as a basic tool to improve existential conditions, and to pursue effective development. Social perception should shift from discourses based on “preventing harm”, “mitigating conflicts”, and  “defending against decline”,  towards those based on “valuing local cultural identities”, “co-operating for development”, and “building a new world”.

 

To stimulate changes in social perception, it would be helpful if efforts were made, firstly, to demonstrate that the valuing of cultural identities and diversity could be an essential developmental tool in a globalising world, and further, to demonstrate that, in this respect, intercultural and intercivilizational co-operation could be a key tool.

 

In this regard, a self-evident feedback should gain consensus in human contexts: the more cultural identities and diversity are safeguarded, the more the benefits from globalising processes may be reaped. Hence, another essential feedback arises: the more collaboration among cultures and among civilizations strengthens and spreads, the more the individual cultures and civilizations may benefit from globalisation.

 

In order to give rise to constructive social perception, collaboration is needed between intergovernmental organisations in the UN system, the scientific community, and the media.  Science should aim to optimise the approach to cultures and civilizations by encouraging dialogue and co-operation, while the media should use knowledge gained by science to raise awareness among the public, and to sustain co-operation initiatives.  In recent decades, this triangular co-operation between the institutional milieus, science and the media has been successfully put into operation as regards environmental issues concerned with climate change. Now, the time to experiment it as regards cultures and civilizations has come. In this respect, the proclamation of a UN Year could serve as the most appropriate means to stimulate co-operation.

 

 

Human development as a cardinal referent

 

Where collaboration among cultures and among civilizations is regarded as an essential tool to pursue development in a globalising world, the prospect of connecting  the concepts of culture and civilization with that of development, as specified in the UN context, arises. In this respect, the concept of sustainable development, as defined in the materials adopted by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment  and Development (UNCED),  and confirmed and further developed in the framework of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), may be adopted as the background referential for encouraging co-operation among cultures and among civilizations.  This approach leads us to consider sustainable development as the contextual pursuit of ecological integrity, economic efficiency, and social equity. When regarded from the perspective of culture and civilization, this teleological trio acquires certain specific connotations. Firstly, nature is regarded as being closely linked with culture, to the point that natural landscapes are thought of not in themselves, but as the place they occupy in social perception. Secondly, conceptually economic efficiency replaces mere economic growth, and it is regarded as the optimum indigenous use of local resources and the implementation of local techniques and activities. Thirdly, social equity is regarded not only as the safeguarding of human rights, but also as the creation of existential conditions for valuing human qualities.  To embrace all these prerogatives, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) strengthened the concept of human development, which was regarded not as an alternative to that of sustainable development but rather as a compatible theoretical reformulation of the concept, whose role consists of focusing on human conditions, particularly on those concerning developing communities. According to James Gustave Speth (Human Development Report, 1994, iii), “Human development is development that not only generates economic growth but distributes its benefits equitably; that regenerates the environment rather than destroying it; that empowers people rather than marginalizing them. It is development that gives priority to the poor, enlarging their choices and opportunities and providing for their participation in decisions that affect their lives. It is development that is pro-people, pro-nature, pro-jobs and pro-women”.

 

At this point, it may be agreed that the constructive approach to intercultural and intercivilizational collaboration, which has been outlined in this paper, is rooted in the concept of human development. As a result, since the UN Year should be based on the trio “dialogue among cultures; dialogue among civilizations; human development”, the approach would be more far-reaching than that of the 2001 UN Year on dialogue among civilizations.