This book is a product of the recent intensified interest of heritage scholars and lawyers in the critical analysis of the impacts of international heritage law safeguarding the heritage of local communities. Lixinski locates the ‘blind spots which often get overlooked in the actions of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and can have severe and unintended consequences. Lixinski is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, among other significant honours. Through this book, he seeks to understand why communities lack agency in the international heritage decision-making process.