Carmen G. Gonzalez

Deconstructing the Mythology of Free Trade: Critical Reflections on Comparative Advantage

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 article argues that trade liberalization in wealthy countries is necessary in order to address inequities in the global trading system that maintain the subordinate status of the global South. However, only an asymmetrical set of rules requiring market openness in wealthy nations and permitting protectionism in poor nations can truly enable developing countries to diversify and industrialize their economies. The article concludes with several recommendations designed to advance the interests of the global South in the Doha Round of WTO negotiations. In addition, the article discusses the unique, multifunctional role of agricultural production in meeting basic human rights (including the fundamental right to food) and in protecting biodiversity, and argues that these concerns must be central rather than peripheral considerations in the Doha Round of WTO negotiations.

International Environmental Law and the Global South

This book examines the ways in which the conflicting perspectives and priorities of the global North and the global South have compromised the effectiveness of international environmental law, including deadlocks in international negotiations and inadequate compliance with existing environmental agreements. Through contributions from eminent scholars in the North and the South, the book analyzes the historic origins and contemporary manifestations of the North-South divide across a wide range of environmental problems -- climate change being a classic example -- and emphasizes opportunities to overcome this divide through practices that address historic inequities and enhance the participation of the global South in the development and implementation of international environmental law. Drawing upon their knowledge of specific regulatory regimes, the contributors to this volume will discuss how the North-South divide operates in distinct areas of international environmental law, and explore legal strategies to bridge this divide.

International Economic Law and the Right to Food

Food insecurity is a product of poverty rather than food scarcity. Its origins lie in economic policies that undermine the livelihoods of small farmers in developing countries and exacerbate North-South inequality. This chapter examines the historic and contemporary practices that contribute to food insecurity in the global South, and analyzes the role of international economic law in perpetuating these practices. The chapter concludes with a variety of concrete measures that the international community might take through law and policy to promote the fundamental human right to food.

International Environmental Law and the Global South: The North–South Divide in International Environmental Law: Framing the Issues

The unprecedented degradation of the planet’s vital ecosystems is one of the most pressing issues confronting the international community today. From the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment through the 2012 Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the international community has responded to this crisis by adopting numerous treaties, declarations, UN General Assembly resolutions, customary rules, and judicial decisions that address specific environmental threats. Despite the proliferation of laws and legal instruments to combat environmental degradation, the global economy continues to exceed ecosystem limits, thereby jeopardizing the health and well-being of present and future generations and threatening the integrity of the planet’s biodiversity. States differ in their contribution to global ecological destruction, their vulnerability to environmental harm, their capacity to address environmental problems, and the economic and political power they wield in multilateral environmental negotiations. While international cooperation is necessary to address global environmental degradation, the global environmental agenda has often been dominated by the priorities and concerns of affluent countries (such as nature conservation). The concerns of poor countries (such as social and economic development and poverty alleviation) are frequently marginalized.

Food Justice: An Environmental Justice Critique of the Global Food System

Environmental justice is an important framework for understanding the North-South divide in many areas of international law and policy, including energy, climate, hazardous wastes, and food. An environmental justice analysis makes visible the ways in which the global North benefits from unsustainable economic activity while imposing the environmental consequences on the global South and on the planet’s most vulnerable human beings, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, and the poor. This chapter applies an environmental justice analysis to the global food system, and identifies the ways in which this system perpetuates food injustice among and within nations. It adopts a tripartite definition of food justice consisting of ecologically sustainable food production, equitable access to food and food-producing resources, and democratic local and national control over food and agricultural policy. Because the concept of food justice originates in the theory and practice of the environmental justice movement, the chapter describes the origins of this movement and explains how environmental justice as an analytical framework applies to North-South relations. The chapter then analyzes the underlying causes of food injustice, and outlines several strategies to create a more equitable and sustainable approach to global food governance.