ABSTRACT

As a grand ethical endeavour, the founding constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states, ‘that since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace need to be constructed’. From its inception, UNESCO’s mission statement thus positions the organization as a pre-eminently intellectual pursuit. However, quite unlike related academic disciplines, the UN specialized agency remains an international development agency officially composed of governments. Nation states, which constitute UNESCO’s core membership, provide the institution with regular budgetary contributions and expect it to operate as an efficient bureaucratic body capable of administering a range of specialized programmes.1