Human Rights in an Era of Neoliberal Globalization

The Alien Tort Claims Act and Grassroots Mobilization in Doe v. Unocal

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4085253
AutoresCheryl Holzmeyer (University of California, Berkeley, autor de correspondencia)
Año2009
Volumen43
Número2
Páginas271-304
Fecha de publicación2009-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLaw & Society Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0023-9216 • E-ISSN: 1540-5893
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-5893.2009.00373.x
OpenAlexW2129970900
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas24
Referencias citadas23

This article examines a widely publicized corporate accountability and human rights case filed by Burmese plaintiffs and human rights litigators in 1996 under the Alien Tort Claims Act in U.S. courts, Doe v. Unocal, in conjunction with the three main theoretical approaches to analyzing how law may matter for broader social change efforts: (1) legal realism, (2) Critical Legal Studies (CLS), and (3) legal mobilization. The article discusses interactions between Doe v. Unocal and grassroots Burmese human rights activism in the San Francisco Bay Area, including intersections with corporate accountability activism. It argues that a transnationally attuned legal mobilization framework, rather than legal realist or CLS approaches, is most appropriate to analyze the political opportunities and indirect effects of Doe v. Unocal and similar litigation in the context of neoliberal globalization. Further, this article argues that human rights discourse may serve as a common vocabulary and counterhegemonic resource for activists and litigators in cases such as Doe v. Unocal, contrary to overarching critiques of such discourse that emphasize only its hegemonic potentials in global governance regimes

Context (archaeology · Grassroots · Human rights · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Corporate Law and Human Rights · Human Rights and Development · International Law and Human Rights · Law