Corporate Watch, Consumer Responsibility, and Economic Democracy: Forms of political action in the orbit of Basic Income *
The political power of private corporations has grown in the last decades as much as the inability of the States to interfere in their businesses. The control of the public sphere has shifted to the hands of private factions that deprive citizens of their right to control their rulers, a process that mines, even more, their freedom and autonomy to decide on their own lives. This leads to an inexorably extension of the two great threats to individual liberty and autonomy that have been identified by political theory along its history: the dominium and the imperium. The dominium extends because, with a major force every day, the big private powers impose to actors forms of production and of distribution that leave them with a barely audible voice 1 . The imperium extends because, with the advance of those private powers, the States, far in their captivity from devoting themselves to the task of promoting the public good, do nothing but guarantee the statu quo, embracing the action of big corporations and using their coercive apparatus when called to do so.
Better to shop than to vote
This paper begins by reflecting on the current generalised political apathy signalled by low voter turnout and falling party membership. It would appear that people are exercising political choices not at the ballot box but by means of consumer activism. Corporations respond to consumer pressure in a way that governments do not, and are gradually assuming the role of global political actors. But this is a dangerous state of affairs for several reasons. In the first place, social welfare can never be the core activity of corporations. Corporate social motives are commercial, and there is a danger that their social policy decisions will be driven by the logic of the market place rather than social need. Recession, for instance, will curtail their social responsiveness, as will decisions to relocate. It is also the case that partnerships between governments and corporates run the risk of removing checks on the growth and abuse of corporate power. And finally, what price does society have to pay for the growth of corporate benevolence?
Judicial Review, Socio-Economic Rights and the Human Rights Act
INTRODUCTION 1 THE ROLE OF COURTS IN THE PROTECTION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS: INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC PERSPECTIVES I. The Indivisibility of Human Rights II. The Protection of Socio-economic Rights in Domestic Courts III. Conclusion 2 THE REGIONAL PROTECTION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS: EUROPE I. Introduction II. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) 1950 III. The Protection of Socio-economic Rights in the ECHR IV. The Protection of Socio-economic Rights in EC/EU Law V. Conclusion 3 COURTS, THE UK CONSTITUTION AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998 I. Introduction II. Reading and Giving Effect to ECHR Rights in UK Courts III. Conclusion 4 JUDICIAL REVIEW: DEFERENCE, RESOURCES AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT I. Introduction II. The Constitutional Foundations of Judicial Review III. Public Law, Deference and the Human Rights Act IV. Conclusion 5 FROM NEED TO 'CHOICE' IN PUBLIC SERVICES: THE BOUNDARIES OF JUDICIAL INTERVENTION IN PRIORITISATION DISPUTES I. Introduction II. NHS Rationing: The Role of Courts in Disputes over Access to Medical Services III. Local Authority Resource Allocation Disputes IV. Interpreting Local Authority Statutory Duties Post-HRA V. Conclusion 6 ARTICLES 3 AND 8 ECHR: FAILURE TO PROVIDE AND POSITIVE OBLIGATIONS IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SPHERE I. Introduction II. Anufrijeva, Article 8 ECHR and Maladministration in the Provision of Welfare III. Article 3 ECHR: Respect for Dignity IV. Conclusion 7 ARTICLE 14 ECHR AND THE UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC GOODS AND SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM I. Introduction II. Socio-economic Entitlements and the Limits of Substantive Fairness in Article 14 ECHR III. Carson's Case: Refusal of Up-rated Payments to Pensioners Abroad 283 IV. Reynolds' Case: The Intensity of Scrutiny in Other 'Status Disputes' V. Equality and Human Rights VI. Conclusion 8 ARTICLE 6 ECHR: JUDICIAL REVIEW, DUE PROCESS AND THE PROTECTION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS I. Introduction II. What is a Civil Right for the Purposes of Article 6 ECHR? III. The Quality of Administrative Justice: The Scope of Article IV. Conclusion