Think
Globally, Act Locally
People
Before Profit
Chapter
5: The WTO and the Constitution
I.
Globalization’s
Constitutional Moment: a period when the basic rules of the social and
political system are rewritten, or written for the first time.
A. WTO meeting protests
in
B. phase of
constitutional moment is when ordinary people in
the
II.
Two
strands of political thought from the American Constitutional moment
most
strongly influencing the evolution of globalization
A.
1. in US, Bill of Rights but also
vision of
active citizenship
2. “positive
rights”
3.
4. European
social
democracy
5. UN
vision
a. emerged
in
immediate postwar years and this reflected the agony of the world after
Holocaust and two horrifying world wars: a desire for a more humane
world
b. founded
on human
rights and democratic
representation of all
citizens and nations
c.
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
d. US affirmed these
rights when signing the declaration,
but in later resolutions the
e. Based on human rights
and social welfare for all
f.
few
nations prepared to cede to the UN powers
necessary to become federal world government, US especially reluctant,
so UN
flawed from beginning
B.
Lockean idea
1.
gained
prominence in
2.
more
conservative, bus
3.
economic
individualism and property rights
III.
US
influence on creating global governance
A.
The Bretton Woods
Institutions –the
IMF, World Bank, and WTO
B.
began with visions of
Citizens’
Globalism: a commitment to both political and socioeconomic rights
C.
reflected New Deal
politics of FDR,
and philosophies of Keynes and White
D.
rise of Cold War àmore
polarized struggle between the two global constitutional visions
1.
US/Soviet Union
competition undermined
UN’s as force of collective security
2.
Keynesian approach to
global social
and financial regulation repudiated in favor of military-industrial
complex.
3.
Bretton Woods system
shifted towards
a more aggressive, property-centered constitutionalism
IV.
A.
Third world economies
suffered
adverse terms of trade
1. Global
inflation and higher interest rates contributed to large debt burden to
B. 1960’s to the 1980’s
1. UN Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD), Group
77, and several Third Worlds bodies fought and won GSP which gave poor
nations
differential treatment on tariff-reduction agreements
C. They
insisted
global rules should be democratic, and based on UN human right’s
principals.
D. Targeted IMF because
of the new “debt trap” that created
chronic financial debt to poor nations who were affected
1. IMF structure
forced poor nations to open their markets, privatize and deregulate key
industries, and cut wages and social programs
E. Group
77, NEIO,
UNCTAD all campaigned for debt forgiveness and a radical change to the
IMF’s
policies
F. Incomplete and
inconclusive because the
V.
WTO
A.
created
in 1995
B.
nerve center of polarized
constitutional battle
C.
created to
constitutionalize
sovereignty of property and further entrench principals of deregulation
and
privatization
D.
can supersede laws of
nations and is
only body what can enforce decisions and punish violators world wide
E.
tightly controlled by US
gnomonic
policy
VI.
WTO
constitutionalism
A.
interprets its roles as
facilitating
trade in order to protect corporate property rights, including
intellectual
property rights
B.
has no mandate to make or
enforce
human rights laws, environmental protection laws, labor laws, etc.
C.
seeks to reduce
“nontarriff trade
barriers”
1.
Burden
of proof regarding safety is shifted to
consumers
2. example:
hormonally enhanced beef must be imported into EU countries
D. sets
up a court
allowing corporations to sue governments for passing environmental or
labor
laws that “infringe” on property rights and profits.