Economic and Social Rights in a Neoliberal World

The rise of neoliberal policy and practice simultaneous to the growing recognition of economic and social rights presents a puzzle. Can the rights to food, water, health education, decent work, social security and the benefits of science prevail against market fundamentalism? Economic and Social Rights in a Neoliberal World is about the potential of these rights to contest the adverse impacts of neoliberal policy and practice on human wellbeing. Cutting across several lines of human rights literature, the chapters address norm development, court decision making, policymaking, advocacy, measurement and social mobilization. The analyses reveal that neoliberalism infiltrates management practices, changes international policy goals, flattens public school curriculum and distorts the outputs of UN human rights treaty bodies. Are economic and social rights successful in challenging neoliberalism, are they simply marginalized or are they co-opted and incorporated into neoliberal frameworks? This multidisciplinary work by a geographically diverse group of scholars and practitioners begins to address these questions.

Gillian MacNaughton is an Assistant Professor in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, and a Senior Fellow with the Center for Peace, Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She works on economic and social rights, and human rights-based approaches to social justice. Her recent research is published in Health and Human Rights Journal, International Journal of Human Rights, and Georgetown Journal of International Law. MacNaughton has consulted for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. She received her doctorate in law from the University of Oxford.

Diane F. Frey is a Lecturer in Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University and an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard University Extension School. Previously, she was the Director of Labor Studies at the National Labor College. Frey's research examines worker rights in comparative perspective, drawing on international labor standards and human rights law, and appears in Global Labour Journal, International Journal of Human Rights, and Georgetown Journal of International Law, as well as edited volumes published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She received a Ph.D. in International Comparative Employment Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.