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Global social justice at the WTO? The role of NGOs in constructing global social contracts He, Baogang and Murphy, Hannah 2007, Global social justice at the WTO? The role of NGOs in constructing global social contracts, International affairs, vol. 83, no. 4, pp. 707-727. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Global social justice at the WTO? The role of NGOs in constructing global social contracts Author(s) He, Baogang Murphy, Hannah Journal name International affairs Volume number 83 Issue number 4 Start page 707 End page 727 Publisher Wiley Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Place of publication Oxford, England Publication date 2007 ISSN 0020-5850 1468-2346 Keyword(s) global social contracts global governance social justice NGO WTO Summary Over the past decade, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been contesting the neo-liberal economic order in international politics by campaigning for normative conditions to bring about what Richard Falk calls 'humane governance'. However, the degree to which NGOs have contributed to the formation of global social contracts remains controversial. While NGO activists and various scholars advocate the establishment of such contracts, empirical testing of this normative argument is underdeveloped. Drawing upon this lack of empirical support, critics dismiss the global social contract concept and question the roles played by NGOs in international politics. This article addresses the controversy through a review, refinement and application of global social contract theory and an empirical study of two prominent international NGO campaigns directed at the World Trade Organization (WTO), an institution that represents a 'hard test case'. It explores the ways in which NGOs and their networks are challenging the neo-liberal basis of WTO agreements and contributing to the emergence of global social contracts. The article concludes that in some circumstances, NGOs have the capacity to inject social justice into international economic contracts and there is some basis for optimism regarding the formation of global social contracts involving NGOs, nation-states and international organizations. Language eng Field of Research 160699 Political Science not elsewhere classified HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2007, Baogang He, Hannah Murphy Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30007245 Document type: Journal Article Collection: School of International and Political Studies Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Wed, 11 Feb 2009, 13:22:43 EST Tue, 11 May 2010, 11:43:53 EST Tue, 11 May 2010, 11:45:02 EST Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:18:39 EST Wed, 15 Feb 2012, 15:14:52 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 8 times in TR Web of Science Cited 13 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 580 Abstract Views, 4 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 29 Sep 2008, 08:49:56 EST

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