Contesting World Order? Socioeconomic Rights and Global Justice Movements

316 Pages·2017·3.975 MB·English

by  Joe Wills

CONTESTING WORLD ORDER?
SOCIOECONOMIC RIGHTS AND GLOBAL
JUSTICE MOVEMENTS
What do equality, dignity and rights mean in a world where eight men
own as much wealth as half the world’s population? Contesting World
Order?SocioeconomicRightsandGlobalJusticeMovementsexamineshow
global justice movements have engaged the language of socioeconomic
rights to contest global institutional structures and rules responsible for
contributingtothepersistenceofseverepoverty.Drawinguponperspec-
tivesfromcriticalinternationalrelationsstudiesandtheactivitiesofglobal
justicemovements,thisbookevaluatesthe‘counter-hegemonic’potential
ofsocioeconomicrightsdiscourseanditscapacitytocontributetowardsan
alternative to the prevailing neo-liberal ‘common sense’ of global
governance.
joe wills is a lecturer at the School of Law, University of Leicester,
where he conducts research in the fields of human rights, animal rights
andlegalandpoliticaltheory.HeisoneofeightresearchersonaBritish
Academy–funded project investigating how the United Kingdom and
South Africa compensate private losses resulting from failures to give
effect to the special duties human and constitutional rights impose on
publicauthorities.HehasalsocontributedtoanAcademyofFinlandand
University of Turku–funded project entitled ‘Imagining Post-Neoliberal
Regulatory Subjectivities’. He has published in the Leiden Journal of
InternationalLawandtheIndianaJournalofGlobalLegalStudies.
GLOBALIZATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS
SeriesEditors
MalcolmLangford
CésarRodríguez-Garavito
ForthcomingBooksintheSeries
CésarRodríguez-Garavito,BusinessandHumanRights:BeyondtheEnd
oftheBeginning
JeremyPerelman,TheRights-ificationofDevelopment:GlobalPoverty,
HumanRights,andGlobalizationinthePost-WashingtonConsensus
KatherineG.Young,TheFutureofEconomicandSocialRights
CONTESTING WORLD
ORDER? SOCIOECONOMIC
RIGHTS AND GLOBAL
JUSTICE MOVEMENTS
JOE J. WILLS
UniversityofLeicester
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107176140
DOI:10.1017/9781316809921
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
PathologiesofPower 2
AccumulationandItsDispossessed 5
‘NewRightsAdvocacy’ 6
GlobalJusticeMovements 9
ANeo-GramscianFramework 10
Frameworks,DiscoursesandIdeologies 11
StructureoftheBook 13
1 Power, Hegemony and World Order 16
1.1 Introduction 16
1.2 HegemonyandCounter-Hegemony 17
1.2.1 StructureandSuperstructure:TheHistoricBloc 18
1.2.2 PoliticalandCivilSociety:TheIntegralState 20
1.2.3 SecuringHegemony 22
1.2.4 Counter-Hegemony 24
1.3 Neo-LiberalGlobalisationandGlobalHegemony 25
1.3.1 WhatIsNeo-Liberalism? 26
1.3.2 FromIntellectualMovementtoStatePower 27
1.3.3 FromtheNationStatetoGlobalGovernance:
TheGlobalisationofNeo-Liberalism 29
1.3.4 GlobalHegemonyandtheGlobalIntegralState 31
1.3.5 TheEndofNeo-Liberalism?TheAftermathoftheGlobal
FinancialCrisis 40
1.4 TheProspectsforCounter-HegemonicGlobalJustice
Movements 42
1.4.1 SitesofResistance 45
1.4.2 ObstaclestoBuildingGlobalCounter-Hegemony 46
1.5 Conclusion 47
v
vi contents
2 Neo-Liberal Globalisation and Socioeconomic Rights:
An Overview 49
2.1 Introduction 49
2.2 HumanRights:ANeo-GramscianFramework 50
2.2.1 WhatAreHumanRights? 50
2.2.2 HumanRightsandSocialChange 55
2.3 SocioeconomicRightsandNeo-Liberalism 61
2.3.1 TheMeaningofSocioeconomicRights 61
2.3.2 SocioeconomicRightsandNeo-Liberalism:Discursive
Tensions 62
2.4 TheDevelopmentofSocioeconomicRightsunder
InternationalLaw 67
2.4.1 ‘InfromtheCold’:TheClarificationofSocioeconomicRights
Standards 68
2.4.2 TheUNHumanRightsFrameworkandGlobalisation 74
2.5 CriticallyEvaluatingtheCounter-HegemonicPotentialof
SocioeconomicRights 79
2.5.1 PotentialStrengthsofSocioeconomicRightsDiscourse 80
2.5.2 PossibleLimitationsofSocioeconomicRightsDiscourse 85
2.6 Conclusion 93
3 Food Security vs. Food Sovereignty: The Right to Food and
Global Hunger 94
3.1 Introduction:TheRighttoFoodandWorldHunger 94
3.2 The Political-Institutional Setting: The Neo-Liberal Food
Regime 96
3.2.1 CriticismsoftheNeo-LiberalFoodRegime 98
3.3 ThePoliticsofFood:FoodSecurityvs.FoodSovereignty 101
3.3.1 TheNeo-LiberalEthico-PoliticalFramework:Food
Security 102
3.3.2 TheCounter-HegemonicEthico-PoliticalFramework:Food
Sovereignty 105
3.4 DiscursiveContestationovertheRighttoFoodunder
InternationalLaw 109
3.4.1 TheLegalBasisfortheRighttoFood 110
3.4.2 TheWorldFoodSummit,Rome1996 115
3.4.3 TheDraftInternationalCodeofConductontheHumanRight
toAdequateFood 118
3.4.4 GeneralComment12 120
3.4.5 TheWorldFoodSummit:FiveYearsLater 122
3.4.6 TheVoluntaryGuidelinesontheRighttoFood 126
3.4.7 TheRighttoFoodaftertheVoluntaryGuidelines:TheWorld
FoodCrisisof2008 137
contents vii
3.4.8 TheRighttoFoodandLaViaCampesina’sCampaignsagainst
LandGrabs 140
3.4.9 LimitationsoftheRighttoFoodandtheStrugglefor‘Peasant
Rights’ 142
3.5 FoodSovereignty,theRighttoFoodandCounter-Hegemonic
Strategy 144
3.6 Conclusion 149
4 Intellectual Property, the Right to Health and the Global
Access to Medicines Campaign 151
4.1 Introduction 151
4.2 ThePolitical-InstitutionalContext:TheGlobalIntellectualProperty
Regime 154
4.2.1 CriticismsoftheGlobalIPRRegimeinRelationtoAccessto
Medicines:‘ATragicDoubleJeopardy’ 157
4.3 ThePoliticsofKnowledge:Ownershipvs.Access 158
4.3.1 TheNeo-LiberalEthico-PoliticalFramework:Intellectual
PropertyRights 159
4.3.2 TheAlternativeEthico-PoliticalFramework:Accessto
Medicines 163
4.4 TheRighttoHealthandAccesstoMedicinesCampaign 166
4.4.1 TheRighttoHealthasOppositionalFrame 169
4.4.2 TheRighttoHealthandtheReformofTRIPS 179
4.4.3 AfterDoha:TheRighttoHealthinthe‘TRIPSPlus’Era 183
4.4.4 BeyondTRIPS:TheRighttoHealthandAlternatives
toIP 188
4.5 Conclusion 193
5 ACommodityoraRight?EvokingtheHumanRighttoWater
to Challenge Neo-Liberal Water Governance 196
5.1 Introduction 196
5.2 ThePolitical-InstitutionalFramework:TheNeo-LiberalWater
Regime 198
5.2.1 CriticismsoftheNeo-LiberalWaterRegime 200
5.3 DuellingVisions:‘WaterasCommodity’vs.‘Wateras
Commons’ 201
5.3.1 TheNeo-LiberalDiscursiveFramework:Waterasa
Commodity 201
5.3.2 TheCounter-HegemonicDiscursiveFramework:Wateras
‘Commons’ 204
5.4 TheRighttoWater 208
5.4.1 TheRighttoWaterintheTwentiethCentury 208
5.4.2 TheNeo-LiberalisationoftheRighttoWater 210
5.4.3 TheEmergenceoftheRighttoWateras
OppositionalFrame 212
viii contents
5.5 TheUnitedNationsandtheRighttoWater 216
5.5.1 TheUnitedNationsandtheRighttoWater:
Background 217
5.5.2 ThePreliminaryDiscussionsontheGeneralCommentonthe
RighttoWater 217
5.5.3 GeneralComment15 219
5.5.4 DevelopmentsinRelationtotheRighttoWater
sinceGC15 222
5.6 (Re)IncorporatingtheRighttoWaterintotheNeo-Liberal
Framework 224
5.6.1 TheWorldBank 225
5.6.2 TheWorldWaterCouncil 228
5.7 CaseStudy:TheRighttoWaterinSouthAfrica 232
5.7.1 BackgroundtotheFreeBasicWaterPolicy 232
5.7.2 TheFreeBasicWaterPolicy 234
5.7.3 TheFreeBasicWaterPolicyContested:TheMazibuko
Ruling 236
5.8 TheRighttoWaterasaCounter-HegemonicStrategy 239
5.9 Conclusion 245
Conclusion 248
C.1 ATripartiteModelofCounter-HegemonicSocioeconomicRights
Praxis 252
C.1.1 TacticalParticipationinInter-governmentalSettings 252
C.1.2 InvokingtheJurisprudenceofInternationalHuman
RightsBodies 254
C.1.3 BuildingSubalternCounterpublics 256
Bibliography 260
Index 289