The International Coordinating Committee for Angkor: A World Heritage Site as an Arena of Competition, Connivance and State(s) Legitimation

To what extent has the system of international cooperation established to manage the UNESCO “World Heritage Site” of Angkor through the “International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding of the Historic Site of Angkor” succeeded in coordinating and mediating international and national state interests in the conservation and development of the site and those of the communities living near it? A series of programmes aimed at spatial transformations of the “Angkor region” featured crucial French and Japanese roles in framing the committee’s activities and its interactions with the Cambodian authorities. Representatives of both the committee and UNESCO made self-legitimizing claims asserting the success of their work as a model of international cooperation for the safeguarding of World Heritage Sites. But can a proper mechanism of cooperation for the safeguarding of a major heritage site be realized, or sustained, without the effective participation of the communities living in and around these sites?