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The Remaking of Social Contracts

The Remaking of Social Contracts

Gita Sen | Marina Durano | Stephanie Seguino | Barbara Adams | Lice Cokanasiga | Yao Graham | Oscar Ugarteche | Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala | Adebayo Olukoshi | Nicole Bidegain Ponte | Aldo Caliari | Anita Nayar | Diana Bronson | Zo Randriamaro | Hibist Wendemu Kassa | Alexandra Garita | Françoise Girard | Fatou Sow | Magaly Pazellllo | Erika Troncoso | Peggy Antrobus | Jennifer Redner | Fadekemi Akinfaderin-Agarau | Sonia Corrêa | Claire Slatter | Bhavya Reddy | Rosalind Pollack Petchesky | Rodelyn Marte | Cai Yiping | Kumudini Samuel | Gigi Francisco | Amrita Chhachhi | Josefa Francisco

(2014)

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Book Details

Abstract

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) argues that social contracts must be recreated if they are to fulfil the promise of human rights. In The Remaking of Social Contracts, leading thinkers and activists address a wide range of concerns - global economic governance, militarism, ecological tipping points, the nation state, movement-building, sexuality and reproduction, and religious fundamentalism. These themes are of wide-ranging importance for the survival and well-being of us all, and reflect the many dimensions and inter-connectedness of our lives. Using feminist lenses, the book puts forward a holistic and radical understanding of the synergies, tensions and contradictions between social movements and global, regional and local power structures and processes, and it points to other alternatives and possibilities for this fierce new world.
Gita Sen is Adjunct Professor of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health, and was until recently Professor of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. She has been for many years a feminist analyst, activist and advocate on the political economy of globalization, and on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She is a member of DAWN’s Executive Committee. Marina Durano was a member of DAWN’s Executive Committee from 2008 to 2011, working on gender issues in financing for development, including the examination of gender issues in international trade policies. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Women’s Development Research Centre (KANITA) of the Universiti Sains Malaysia, and is now an Assistant Professor at the Asian Center at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. She has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Manchester.
'The Remaking of Social Contracts presents a head-on challenge to neoliberalism's many myths. This collection offers important insights into contemporary global complexities without losing sight of or minimizing important historical antecedents. Sen and Durano bring together a stellar array of interdisciplinary and intergenerational activists, academics and advocates. This is certain to be a key text for understanding why development debates are still at the heart of issues of justice, rights and advocacy.' Michelle V. Rowley, University of Maryland 'In the last decade of the twentieth century, social movements debated whether their goals should include "equity" or "equality" for women. This book offers a different perspective. In a world which is becoming more and more unequal both within countries and between them, the answer is "neither", and a new social contract should be based instead on justice. In this foundational book, DAWN spells out gender justice not just as another item on the wish list of social movements but as the basis of a new, indispensable social contract.' Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch 'Here are the tools we've been waiting for. This cutting-edge collection addresses the major dilemmas of our times to provide readers with a broad spectrum of evidence-based analysis. The contributors, leading public intellectuals from across the globe, demystify the ideological and material trappings of imperialism. Inspirational and essential reading for the twenty-first century.' Amina Mama, professor of women and gender studies, University of California, Davis, and founding editor of Feminist Africa

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Front Cover Front cover
About the Editors ii
About DAWN ii
Title iii
Copyright iv
Contents v
Foreword ix
Part I: Introductory Overview 1
Social Contracts Revisited: The Promise of Human Rights 3
A fierce new world, a fractured social contract 4
Social movements and human rights 11
Feminism in an interconnected world 14
Towards a remaking of social contracts 21
References 28
Part II: Governing Globalization: Critiquing the Reproduction of Inequality 31
Chapter 1: Financialization, Distribution and Inequality 33
The crisis is not just a financial crisis 34
Table 1.1 Global trends in income inequality 35
A framework for transformational macroeconomic policy 41
Conclusion 45
Notes 46
References 47
Box II.1 Multilateralism: From Advancement to Self-defence 49
References 50
Box II.2 Women’s Status and Free Trade in the Pacific 51
Pacific women and free trade 51
Resisting more free trade 52
References 52
Chapter 2: New Poles of Accumulation and Realignment of Power in the Twenty-first Century 53
The shift in economic power 54
Challenges and opportunities for South–South cooperation 55
Challenges for activism 63
Conclusion 65
Notes 66
References 68
Chapter 3 The Modern Business of War 70
The militarization of the economy 70
Figure 3.1 US budget: state, defence and non-defence expenditures, 2000–2014 71
Table 3.1 Top ten US defence industries, government contracts and PE ratios, 2002/2010 75
Table 3.2 Old and new G7 countries: share of world total GDP 76
Table 3.3 Old and new G7 countries: basic data 2010 77
Table 3.4 GDP in US$, PPP projections 78
Wages and social control, and the control of terrorism 78
Table 3.5 Wage bill as % of GDP, selected Latin American countries 79
The modern business of war 80
Conclusion 82
Notes 82
References 83
Box II.3 Militarization, Illicit Economies and Governance 84
References 86
Box II.4 Commodity Exports and Persistent Inequality under Latin American Progressive Governments 87
References 88
Chapter 4: The Convergences and Divergences of Human Rights and Political Economy 89
The human rights approach to development 89
Critiques of the human rights approach 93
The political economy approach to development 95
Critiques of the political economy approach 97
Defining and taking up the challenge 100
Notes 101
References 102
Part III: Political Ecology and Climate Justice: Tackling Sustainability and Climate Change 103
Chapter 5: Climate Non-negotiables 105
Market ‘fixes’ 107
Technological ‘fixes’ 108
Financing the ‘fixes’ or fixing the finance 109
Green or greed economy 110
Be realistic, demand the impossible 111
Recovering feminist engagement 113
Feminist principles and alternatives 116
Notes 119
References 119
Box III.1 Primitive Accumulation Revisited 121
Primitive accumulation goes global 121
The corrosive power of the moneylenders 122
Women take the brunt 122
References 123
Chapter 6: Geoengineering: A Gender Issue? 124
What is geoengineering? 125
From engineering to geoengineering 126
Geoengineering technologies 127
What’s gender got to do with it? 131
Twelve ways the geoengineering discourse is gendered 132
Geoengineering governance 135
Notes 138
References 138
Box III.2 Green Rhetoric in the Asian Fiscal Stimulus 141
References 142
Chapter 7: Land Grabs, Food Security and Climate Justice: A Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa 143
Linking hunger, food security and social reproduction from a feminist perspective 143
Inadequate and inequitable responses to hunger and food insecurity 145
Land grabs and climate change: the scramble for Africa’s land 147
Land grabs, climate change and food production 148
Land grabs and fuel production 151
Policy responses to lands grabs and climate change: making matters worse? 151
‘Win–win’ governance, ecological and gender justice 153
Box: Daewoo and breadbasket deals 156
References 157
Box III.3 African Feminist Resistance And Climate Change Politics 159
References 160
Part IV: Secularism and Biopolitics: Confronting Fundamentalism and Deciphering Biopolitics 161
Chapter 8: Negotiating Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at the UN: A Long and Winding Road 163
Setting out at ICPD and Beijing 163
Going uphill at ICPD+5 and Beijing+5 166
Running to stay in place during the Bush era 168
Finally turning a corner in 2009 171
A different path: HIV and AIDS 173
Challenges and ways forward 176
Notes 178
References 179
Chapter 9: The Making of a Secular Contract 181
Gender and secularism: history of a concept 183
Fundamentalist movements: no room for transformation 186
A gender problem 189
Examples of fundamentalism contesting feminism 190
Conclusion 193
Notes 194
References 194
Box IV.1 The Abortion Debate in Latin America and the Caribbean: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back 196
References 197
Box IV.2 MDGs, SRHR and Poverty-Reduction Policies: Evidence from a DAWN Project 198
Fragmentation of SRHR 199
Conclusions 199
Notes 200
References 200
Chapter 10: Sexuality as a Weapon of Biopolitics: Rethinking Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 201
Framings: intersectionality and biopolitics 201
Re-examining Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill 205
Sexuality politics as decoy 215
Resisting biopolitics 217
Coda 222
Notes 226
References 227
Box IV.3 HIV and SRHR 231
Staking women’s claims within AIDS responses 231
References 232
Box IV.4 Sexuality and Human Rights in Brazil: The Long and Winding Road 233
References 235
Part V: Frontier Challenges: Building Nation-States and Social Movements 237
Chapter 11: The State of States 239
Contextualizing social contracts in the South: colonial and post-colonial continuities 239
The post-colonial state and women’s citizenship 243
Current challenges in discourses on states and governance 248
Conclusion 252
Notes 253
References 254
Box V.1 ICTS: Efficient Exploitation or Feminist Tool? 257
References 258
Chapter 12: Religious Fundamentalism and Secular Governance 259
Women and fundamentalism today 266
Notes 272
References 272
Box V.2 Case Study of Engagement and Responses 274
Chapter 13: Reframing Peace and Security for Women 276
Changing terrains of security 276
Linking women to concerns of peace and security at the UN 278
Peace and security for women: a resolution mired in contradiction 279
Understanding agency 286
Understanding the complexity of peace and security 287
References 288
Box V.3 LBT Rights and Militarization in Post-Conflict Context 290
Hierarchy of rights 290
Post-conflict nature of the victorious state 290
Entrenched militarization 291
Economic and ecological justice 291
Action for LBT rights 291
References 292
Chapter 14: Feminist Activisms for New Global Contracts amidst Civil Indignation 293
Feminist activism in a dysfunctional multilateral system 294
Politics of solidarity and joint global actions 297
Survival and demise in a financially distressed environment 302
Feminist leadership for movement building in precarious times 303
Notes 305
References 307
Box V.4 The Promise and Pitfalls of UN Women 308
More than the sum of its parts 308
References 309
Box V.5 Young People: Shattering the Silence on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 310
References 311
Contributors 312
Index 316
Back Cover Back cover