Researcher ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6888-9892
Graduation Year
2023
Date of Submission
4-2023
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
International Relations
Reader 1
Jennifer Taw
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2023 Molly E Luce
Abstract
Cultural racketeering, the looting and trafficking of cultural heritage sites to fund conflict, violence, or terrorism, has become a prevalent issue across the globe in recent years. This paper identifies the main actors, the sellers and buyers, of the looted antiquities and outlines several cases. Sellers, such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda, pillage and traffic sites of cultural, religious, or historic importance as a funding source for their illicit activities. Buyers, which include museums and elite private collectors, purchase these antiquities and inadvertently fund terrorism. The international community has condemned these actors and implemented policies in response. The conventions that multinational institutions like the United Nations have ratified have been insufficient in counteracting these practices. This paper analyzes the efficacy of international organizations’ responses and examines the reasons why they fail. These reasons include (1) challenges of national sovereignty, (2) inadequate buy-in from member states, (3) flaws in the top-down policy implementation approach, and (4) lack of sufficient resources. Failing to respond effectively not only poses a grave security threat but also risks the loss of crucial sites and objects of human history.
Recommended Citation
Luce, Molly, "Failing History: How Multinational Institutions Cannot Prevent Cultural Racketeering" (2023). CMC Senior Theses. 3377.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3377
