ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the path dependence in the positions of the major stakeholders, the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), and how this mattered in shaping institutional choices. It describes the evolution of the trade versus culture discourse in particular by looking at the international institutions embodying both sides of the conflict, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and their interaction. The idea of a legally binding instrument on cultural diversity came about as an afterthought in UNESCO. The process originally started under two fora unrelated to the UN agency, the International Network of Cultural Policy (INCP) and the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD). The early years of the discourse on trade and culture evolved under the dictum of cultural exceptionalism, and were marked by attempts to carve out cultural from other, mostly economic, policies, in particular on the international scene.
