The UNESCO world heritage regime: The regime theory in international relations and the UNESCO's world heritage program

International regimes are generally defined as "international institutions with principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures" that reflect the common interests of actors and regulate their behavior in certain areas. Through the functions they provide, regimes make it easier for actors to collaborate in an anarchic international structure. International regimes fulfill some basic functions, including establishing certain legal responsibility frameworks, reducing the information asymmetry, the uncertainty that actors feel about each other's behavior as well as the transaction costs. This thesis argues that one of the most important examples of international regimes is the World Heritage program established by UNESCO. The 1972 World Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Convention, which was adopted under the leadership of UNESCO, provided a legal framework for creating and promoting the "World Heritage regime." The World Heritage regime aims to protect the heritage around the world whose conservation is important for us all today as well as for future generations. In fact, toward this objective, an international cooperation and protection system has been established under the World Heritage program. The World Heritage List, which was created following the 1972 World Heritage Convention, has been designed as an exemplary list of cultural and natural sites with superior universal value. The thesis analyzes the World Heritage program within the scope of international regime theories and concludes that the UNESCO's World Heritage program may be considered as an effective international regime. The thesis reviews the regime that UNESCO has created in the field of world heritage and discusses the conceptual innovations and changes it has brought to cultural issues. As such, the thesis, drawing upon the historical and conceptual work of UNESCO, argues that the World Heritage program has become one of the most important regimes in the international arena.