Exploring a More Holistic Approach to the Realization of Socio-Economic Rights in Third World States

Posted: 10 Feb 2012

See all articles by Opeoluwa Badaru

Opeoluwa Badaru

Critical Research Laboratory in Law and Society, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University

Date Written: February 8, 2012

Abstract

The current approaches to the realization of socio-economic rights tend to exist in relative silos, and are as such all limited in their effectiveness. Many such approaches exist, but the ones focused on in this paper are the “mainstream”, “Critical Legal Studies” (CLS), “Third World Approaches to International Law” (TWAIL), and “Political Economy” (PE) approaches. By “mainstream”, I refer to a perspective that is based on a strict and formal interpretation of international law as it is currently couched in the recognized sources of international law, and a similar understanding of the international and domestic legal orders. By “CLS”, I refer to a Western “Critical Legal Studies” perspective that criticizes legal language as a false discourse that helps perpetuate hierarchies. By “TWAIL”, I refer to the perspective of a school of thought referred to as “Third World Approaches to International Law” that is unified by historical and contemporary concerns regarding the position of Third World peoples in the global political and economic structure, particularly within international law. By “PE”, I refer to an approach that tries to understand the historical and current links between the economy and political power and how they influence each other.

Thus far, each of these schools of thought has developed its own approach to rights discourse/action in general, and socio-economic rights discourse/action in particular. There has been little attempt to combine the differing approaches to these questions, so as to produce a much more holistic and effective harmonized approach to the problem of generating the kind of ideas that can lead to the significant amelioration of socio-economic rights violations in the Third World. The value of synergizing these differing approaches is illustrated, among others, by the fact that in order to better understand the (legal, political, and economic) structural and other factors that stand in the way of the greater global re-distribution of socio-economic resources (thereby ameliorating Third World socio-economic hardships), TWAIL and PE insights must be taken into much greater account by mainstream socio-economic rights scholarship. And even CLS-style socio-economic rights scholarship will profit from this kind of engagement with TWAIL and PE approaches. There is thus an obvious necessity for a more holistic approach to the question of the production of ideas concerning the realization of socio-economic rights in the Third World; one that is much more synergistic and integrated than has otherwise been the case.

Keywords: Socio-Economic Rights, Third World Approaches to International Law, Critical Legal Studies, Political Economy

Suggested Citation

Badaru, Opeoluwa, Exploring a More Holistic Approach to the Realization of Socio-Economic Rights in Third World States (February 8, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2001797

Opeoluwa Badaru (Contact Author)

Critical Research Laboratory in Law and Society, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University ( email )

2033 IKB, Osgoode Hall Law School
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, Ontario M3J1P3
Canada

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