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------- Start of forwarded message ------- From: "Martin Shaw" <m.shaw at sussex.ac.uk> To: "Global Site" <m.shaw at sussex.ac.uk> Reply-To: <m.shaw at sussex.ac.uk> Subject: Fwd: regulation, consumption and politics Date: 11/10/02 10:10:45 AM
New writing online at www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/press:
Ronnie D. Lipschutz (University of California, Santa Cruz): Regulation for the rest of us? Global social activism, corporate citizenship, and the disappearance of the political
'In the context of globalization, transnational social regulation is increasingly the product of private (as opposed to public) interventions into the sphere of global trade. In recognition of the widespread failure of corporations to sufficiently address the socio-economic externalities borne by workers (inadequate wages, poor working conditions, forced overtime, child labor, and lack of the right to free association), various non-governmental organizations have begun to design and implement systems of rules intended to influence corporations and bring to an end a transnational "race to the bottom." Drawing on recent empirical research in Southeast Asia, I propose that what matters as much as improvements to life on the factory floor are "spillover" effects whose force extend beyond building walls into the broader society of the host country. I question whether consumer behavior alone can create the conditions in which workers will be free to exercize their rights as guaranteed by both domestic law and International Labor Organization conventions. I conclude that what is needed is greater interaction between global civil society and trade unions. For the moment, the basis for effective labor law lies within states, and activism must focus on improving legal, political, and social conditions for workers in the host countries, rather than trying to affect corporate behavior through consumer pressure.'
Matthew Paterson (University of Keele): Shut up and shop! Thinking politically about consumption
'How should we think about questions of consumption in relation to, on the one hand Global Environmental Politics, and on the other, Global Political Economy? In relation to both fields, we might expect much debate about the way that consumption and consumerism helps to generate environmental degradation and hinder efforts to move towards sustainability, and about the role of consumption in reproducing global capitalism. But such connections are only very rarely made.' This paper attempts to think through how we might make such connections, concluding that 'consumption operates as a key legitimising sphere for contemporary capitalism. It is the means in effect through which the practices of political-economic actors, from national governments, to TNCs, to multilateral institutions, are rendered legitimate. In this sense it is therefore crucial to the reproduction of contemporary capitalism.
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