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International Economic Law And The Right To Food, Carmen G. Gonzalez
International Economic Law And The Right To Food, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
This chapter examines the historic and current policies and practices that have contributed to food insecurity in the global South. It analyzes the impact of international economic law on the patterns of trade and production that perpetuate food insecurity, and recommends concrete measures that the international community might take through law and regulation to promote the fundamental human right to food. Part I provides a short introduction to the right to food framework and its implications for international trade, investment, and finance. Part II places the current food crisis in historical perspective by discussing the trade and aid policies that …
The Global Food System, Environmental Protection, And Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez
The Global Food System, Environmental Protection, And Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The global food system is exceeding ecological limits while failing to meet the nutritional needs of a large segment of the world’s population. While law could play an important role in facilitating the transition to a more just and ecologically sustainable food system, the current legal framework fails to regulate food and agriculture in an integrated manner. The international legal framework governing food and agriculture is fragmented into three self-contained regimes that have historically operated in isolation from one another: international human rights law, international environmental law, and international trade law. International trade law has taken precedence over human rights …
The Global Politics Of Food: Introduction To The Theoretical Perspectives Cluster, Carmen G. Gonzalez
The Global Politics Of Food: Introduction To The Theoretical Perspectives Cluster, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The corporate-dominated, fossil-fuel dependent model of agricultural production has produced chronic undernourishment, an epidemic of obesity and diet-related diseases, and unprecedented ecological devastation. In May 2010, the Universidad Interamericana in Mexico City hosted an international conference on The Global Politics of Food: Sustainability and Subordination. Sponsored by Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory, Inc. and by Seattle University School of Law, the conference took place under the auspices of the South-North Exchange on Theory, Culture and Law (SNX), a yearly gathering of scholars in the Americas that seeks to foster transnational, cross-disciplinary and inter-cultural dialogue on current issues in law, …
An Environmental Justice Critique Of Comparative Advantage: Indigenous Peoples, Trade Policy, And The Mexican Neoliberal Economic Reforms, Carmen G. Gonzalez
An Environmental Justice Critique Of Comparative Advantage: Indigenous Peoples, Trade Policy, And The Mexican Neoliberal Economic Reforms, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The free market reforms adopted by Mexico in the wake of the debt crisis of the 1980s and in connection with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have jeopardized the physical and cultural survival of Mexico’s indigenous peoples, increased migration to the United States, threatened biological diversity in Mexico, and imposed additional stress on the environment in the United States. Despite these negative impacts, NAFTA continues to serve as a template for trade agreements in the Americas. Unless this template is fundamentally restructured, future trade agreements may replicate throughout the Western hemisphere many of the economic, ecological and social …
Climate Change, Food Security, And Agrobiodiversity: Toward A Just, Resilient, And Sustainable Food System, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Climate Change, Food Security, And Agrobiodiversity: Toward A Just, Resilient, And Sustainable Food System, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The global food system is in a state of profound crisis. Decades of misguided aid, trade and production policies have resulted in an unprecedented erosion of agrobiodiversity that renders the world’s food supply vulnerable to catastrophic crop failure in the event of drought, heavy rains, and outbreaks of pests and disease. Climate change threatens to wreak additional havoc on food production by increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, depressing agricultural yields, reducing the productivity of the world’s fisheries, and placing pressure on scarce water resources. Furthermore, the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are occurring at a …
The Global Food Crisis: Law, Policy, And The Elusive Quest For Justice, Carmen G. Gonzalez
The Global Food Crisis: Law, Policy, And The Elusive Quest For Justice, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The food crisis of 2008, the subsequent financial crisis, and the ongoing climate crisis have created new challenges to the attainment of global food security. This essay examines the historic and current practices that have contributed to food insecurity in developing countries, and recommends several steps that the international community might take to promote the fundamental human right to food. The essay begins by outlining the trade and aid policies that laid the foundation for food insecurity in the global South from colonialism until the early twenty-first century. It then examines the impact of the financial crisis and the climate …
Is Nafta A Good Model For China?: Lessons From Mexico And The United States, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Is Nafta A Good Model For China?: Lessons From Mexico And The United States, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
In response to skyrocketing food prices, the global financial crisis, and the degradation of farm lands due to urbanization and industrialization, China has placed rural development at the top of its political agenda. China’s renewed emphasis on rural development is taking place against a backdrop of global efforts to reduce trade barriers in the agricultural sector. This article uses the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a case study on the complex ways that trade policy affects domestic efforts to protect the environment and promote rural development. The objective is to draw lessons from the experiences of the United …
Is Nafta A Good Model For China? Lessons From Mexico And The United States, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Is Nafta A Good Model For China? Lessons From Mexico And The United States, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
In response to skyrocketing food prices, the global financial crisis, and the degradation of farm lands due to urbanization and industrialization, China has placed rural development at the top of its political agenda. China’s renewed emphasis on rural development is taking place against a backdrop of global efforts to reduce trade barriers in the agricultural sector. This article uses the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a case study on the complex ways that trade policy affects domestic efforts to protect the environment and promote rural development. The objective is to draw lessons from the experiences of the United …
Deconstructing The Mythology Of Free Trade: Critical Reflections On Comparative Advantage, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Deconstructing The Mythology Of Free Trade: Critical Reflections On Comparative Advantage, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The theory of comparative advantage serves as the theoretical justification for the neoliberal economic reforms promoted by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and multilateral and regional free trade agreements. This article employs insights from both neoclassical and heterodox economics in order to critique the theory of comparative advantage as applied to the agricultural sector. In particular, the article takes aim at the illusory notion that eliminating distortions in international agricultural trade caused by the lavish agricultural subsidies of wealthy nations will be sufficient to “level the playing field” and promote prosperity in both developed and developing countries. The …