In the preparation of this paper we have been attentive to the needs, identified in Our Creative Diversity and elsewhere, for new agendas and for a coherent new paradigm

With a view to enriching the intellectual preparation of the Stockholm Conference, UNESCO has commissioned a number of eminent specialists to write short “state of the art ” papers on the sub-themes included in the Preliminary Agenda for the Conference. Each specialist was asked to take as a point of departure the ideas put forward by the World Commission on Culture and Development in its report, Our Creative Diversity. Each author was also invited to freely present ideas, analyses and recommendations that might improve or strengthen policy-making and practice in each respective field. These preparatory papers, commissioned with the support of the Ministry of Education of Sweden, will be made available to participants and are also being consulted by the Secretariat of UNESCO as it drafts a Background Document for the Conference. Each author is responsible for the choice and the presentation of ~ the fact contained in her/his paper and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. N.B. These papers will also be made available on the Internet at the following