1. Antonios Vlassis, Scientific Research Fund-Center for International Relations Studies, University of Liege, Belgium
International norms and regions: Mercosur and ASEAN at the time of cultural diversity

2. Introduction
Why do some international ideas find greater acceptance in a particular region than in another? (Acharya 2004)
Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE)
CDCE adopted by UNESCO in 2005
Acceptance of a specific problem such as the threat of free trade agreements on cultural policies as international issue; new practices regarding the link ‘culture and development’.
Recognize the specificity of cultural goods and services and the importance of cultural policy for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.
Role of civil society (Article 11); cultural industries in sustainable development policies (Article 13); international cultural cooperation through various tools such as expert and information exchange among the Parties (articles 9 and 19) International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD).

3. Research questions
Disseminating and implementing international norms is almost always a contested process (Avant et al. 2011)
Governments and regional organizations learn from beyond their borders.
Two main ways through which regional spaces and organizations relate to international norms
Four key questions: why do actors engage in norm transfer? Who are the key actors involved in the norm transfer process? What is transferred and why? What restricts or facilitates the norm transfer process? (Dolowitz and Marsh, 2000)
Advance debate about comparative regionalism

4. Organization of the article
Highlight the role of these regions in the CDCE implementation, the effects of the CDCE on the Mercosur and ASEAN states, as well as on the policy agenda of the two regional organizations.
Understand the factors, which favour the CDCE transfer process, focus on the key actors of this process, emphasize the conditions in which international norms are supposed to make a difference, as well as the competing ideas that the CDCE face in these regions.
Experience external influences differently
Exercise different kinds of influence
Identify different arrays of actors involving in ASEAN and Mercosur regions and different linkages between regional and external actors.

5. ASEAN region and CDCE
Four ASEAN states are already Parties to the CDCE: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since 2007, and Indonesia since 2012.
Several ASEAN states do not take the CDCE as a serious and useful normative framework.
The ASEAN states did not reach common agreement on what their position within this issue-area should be.
CDCE negotiations: the only ASEAN countries, which made specific comments were Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In the WTO debate on the trade-culture nexus the ASEAN states are divided.

6. ASEAN region and CDCE
Policy capacity gap and different external influences.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Francophone networks
Capacity-building measures were necessary in the case of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia in order to allow them to implement successfully the CDCE.
Insufficient understanding of how the CDCE worked
Uninformed adhesion to the CDCE and inappropriate context for the CDCE implementation.
Marginal influence of societal groups
Competing ideas
Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia - influenced by Australia, Hong-Kong, UNCTAD and ASEM – prioritized with the contribution of private sector the concept of ‘creative economy’
Greater emphasis on the CDCE in ASEAN region depends on: common socialisation from abroad; importance of leadership from national governments; exchanges of civil society

7. Mercosur region and CDCE
Mercosur states are far more receptive to the CDCE than the ASEAN states.
All Mercosur members are already Parties to the CDCE.
Several innovative policy practices; Mercosur countries involved in the implementation of the IFCD; effective partnership between national authorities and civil society; Mercosur Commission on Cultural Diversity.
Mechanisms for the diffusion of the Convention.

8. Mercosur region and CDCE
Activities of culture organizations of professionals: from political pressure to information sharing
First Coalition for Cultural Diversity established in Argentina in 2002, followed by the Coalitions of Uruguay, of Brazil and of Paraguay.
Strong links with the International Federation of the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity
Partner and legitimator of the CDCE implementation in Mercosur region
U40 Global Network “Cultural Diversity 2030”; Observatory for Cultural Diversity.
Common socialisation of national officials and deputies of Mercosur states.
Regional meetings and forums, through which the CDCE was disseminated:
Inter-American Committee on Culture and the Inter-American Meetings of Ministers of Culture;
Assembly of the Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas (COPA) and the sessions of the Committee on Education, Culture, Science and Technology;
EU, Latin American and the Caribbean Summit;
Ibero-American Conferences on Culture.
Dynamic advocacy of CDCE entrepreneurs, such as Canada and Quebec within these regional networks.
Smooth, technical-level communication and information sharing among culture ministries in the Mercosur states.