Heterodox Challenges to Consumption Oriented Models of Legislation: A Comparative Approach

Abstract:     
Consumption-oriented models of governance dominate the contemporary global legal architecture. The financial crisis beginning in 2008, however, casts fundamental questions about the future viability of these approaches to economics and law. This paper attempts to firstly, evaluate its salient historical development and themes from the post-World War II era to more recent legislative innovation (e.g., within the European Union), and secondly, introduce seven heterodox vignettes that challenge the hegemony of consumption in legislative policy. The paper concludes with some brief reflections upon potential opportunities and limitations of these heterodox traditions within future scholarship and policy addressing the interplay of law and consumption in global governance. An early version of this paper was part of the Harvard Law School's Institute for Global Law and Policy Working Paper Series, but is significantly rewritten and currently in peer review.

Keywords: Buddhist Economics, Consumer Society, Critical Legal Studies, Deep Ecology, European Union, Global Governance, Institutional Economics, Law and Economics, Marxism, Social Systems Theory, Autopoiesis

working papers series