Participation and cultural heritage management in Norway. Who, when, and how people participate

Abstract

Participation in democracy has been suggested as an inherent value of democracy by allowing citizens to participate in political decision-making. Since the 2000s and, more particularly, after the creation of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention and the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention, there has been a call for a participatory approach to heritage management. In 2008 Norway ratified the Faro Convention justifying the existence of statutory participatory practices and community engagements. This paper assesses these practices as they read at the national legal provisions to evaluate how Norway articulates participative processes regarding cultural heritage management. The results indicate that the legal framework long for an active role of inhabitants in local administration and planning and heritage management but prevent them from influencing governance beyond the elections. Accordingly, cultural heritage management is still far from being considered a ‘sharing responsibility’ between citizens and authorities as the Faro Convention calls for.