Showing papers in "Development and Change in 2008"
TL;DR: This article argued that the poorest countries and populations will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks from climate change, even though they have contributed least to the problem, and that no country will be immune to the impact of climate change.
Abstract: Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21st Century. Failure to respond to that challenge will stall and then reverse international efforts to reduce poverty. The poorest countries and populations will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks, even though they have contributed least to the problem. Looking to the future, no country—however wealthy or powerful—will be immune to the impact of climate change.
1,006 citations
887 citations
TL;DR: The authors review evidence regarding debates on the resource curse and the possibility of an extraction-led pathway to development, and describe different types of resistance and social mobilization that have greeted mineral expansion at a range of geographical scales, and consider how far these protests have changed the relationships between mining and political economic change.
Abstract: The last decade and a half has witnessed a dramatic growth in mining activity in many developing countries. This article reviews these recent trends and describes the debates and conflicts they have triggered. The authors review evidence regarding debates on the resource curse and the possibility of an extraction-led pathway to development. They then describe the different types of resistance and social mobilization that have greeted mineral expansion at a range of geographical scales, and consider how far these protests have changed the relationships between mining and political economic change. The conclusions address how far such protests might contribute to an ‘escape’ from the resource curse, and consider implications for research and policy agendas.
471 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the institutional factors that account for the outcome of efforts to decentralize control over natural resources to local communities in sub-Saharan Africa through a comparative analysis of wildlife management reforms in seven east and southern African countries.
Abstract: This article examines the institutional factors that account for the outcome of efforts to decentralize control over natural resources to local communities. It focuses on the political nature of institutional processes associated with decentralization in sub-Saharan Africa through a comparative analysis of wildlife management reforms in seven east and southern African countries. Institutional reforms are largely dependent on state authorities' patronage interests, which in turn are shaped by the relative economic value of wildlife, the degree of central control over commercial utilization, and the accountability of governance institutions. Our findings have a range of practical implications for the design of CBNRM initiatives and institutional reform strategies.
294 citations
263 citations
TL;DR: The International Labour Organization (ILO) is at a crucial point. as mentioned in this paper considers how the ILO has failed to come to terms with the Global Transformation, seeing it as trying to play three roles (i.e., a standard-setter, a technical assistance agency and a knowledge generator).
Abstract: The International Labour Organization, set up in 1919 to develop and promote labour standards, is at a crucial point. It has preached that labour is not a commodity and in 1969 received the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then it has run into trouble. This article considers how the ILO has failed to come to terms with the Global Transformation, seeing it as trying to play three roles — a standard-setter, a technical assistance agency and a knowledge generator — without developing the professional capacity to do so. The big question is whether the ILO could become an effective development agency given the changing character of work and labour in globalizing labour markets and its antiquated governance structure.
169 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the commercial dynamics of global production networks provides an opening for civil society organizations to pressure for codes, but simultaneously drives the use of a vulnerable and insecure workforce that is the Achilles heel of codes.
Abstract: Codes of labour practice implemented by corporate buyers in their global production networks are one dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Research indicates the benefits of codes for workers are limited and they fail to reach the most vulnerable workers, particularly those employed by labour contractors who face the worst employment conditions. This contribution argues that the commercial dynamics of global production networks provides an opening for civil society organizations to pressure for codes, but simultaneously drives the use of a vulnerable and insecure workforce that is the ‘Achilles Heel’ of codes. Whilst codes have a role to play, inherent tensions underpinned by a commercial logic mean they should only ever be viewed as one strand in broader strategies that address the rights of the most vulnerable workers in global production.
167 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the emergence over the last decade of a new approach to rural development studies in Latin America known as the "new rurality" and explore the various interpretations and ambiguities of this approach as well as the ensuing debates are discussed.
Abstract: This article explores the emergence over the last decade of a new approach to rural development studies in Latin America known as the ‘new rurality’. The various interpretations and ambiguities of this approach as well as the ensuing debates are discussed. Analysis focuses on four major transformations in the rural economy and society which are usually highlighted by the ‘new ruralists’. These changes are interpreted as arising from the region's neoliberal shift and its closer insertion into the global system. A novel distinction is made between reformist and communitarian proposals for a new rurality. The merits as well as the limitations of this new approach to rural studies are examined.
158 citations
TL;DR: However, due to its popularity among both the poor and Brazil's politicians, Bolsa Familia could greatly increase patronage in the distribution of economic and social benefits and induce a strong dependence on government handouts as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In common with most Latin American countries, as governments embrace safety nets to attack poverty, conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes have become part of mainstream social policy in Brazil. Under president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995–2002), and especially since Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in 2003, targeted assistance in education, health and nutrition, now united under Bolsa Familia, have expanded rapidly to benefit forty-four million (24 per cent of the total population), absorbing almost two-fifths of the social assistance budget earmarked for the poorest sectors. Despite its operational problems, Bolsa Familia appears to have been effective in providing short-term relief to some of the most deprived groups in Brazil. Yet it could prove to be a double-edged sword. There is a risk that, due to its popularity among both the poor and Brazil's politicians, Bolsa Familia could greatly increase patronage in the distribution of economic and social benefits and induce a strong dependence on government handouts. There are also early signs that it may be contributing to a reduction in social spending in key sectors such as education, housing and basic sanitation, possibly undermining the country's future social and economic development.
146 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the ethic embedded in and promulgated through ethical trade by use of a case study of African agriculture and argue that this ethic is at the core of a form of governmentality that advances the project of neoliberalism, not by force but rather through the technologies and embedded norms of voluntary regulation.
Abstract: In recent years companies have responded to increasingly powerful consumer politics by expanding the scope of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to include ethical trade. This article examines the ethic embedded in and promulgated through ethical trade by use of a case study of African agriculture. Building on recent conceptualizations of globalization, neoliberalism and anthropological analyses of the audit economy, the authors put forward three inter-related arguments. First, that there is a clear, if largely unacknowledged, ethic that positions ethical trade as an inherently neo-utilitarian response to the economic and political imperatives of globalization, with important implications for its intended beneficiaries in the South and advocates in the North. Second, that this ethic is at the core of a form of governmentality that advances the project of neoliberalism, not by force but rather through the technologies and embedded norms of voluntary regulation, resulting in a model of governance that is fundamentally constrained by structurally embedded limitations. And third, that attempts to remove these limitations may be less likely to achieve the democratic, empowering outcomes of ethical trade's proponents than to serve the interests of the internationally dispersed ‘stewards of virtue’ that grant ethical trade its legitimacy.
126 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used insights from recent fieldwork in the Pakistani sporting goods industry and introduced five recommendations that could lead to a more fruitful engagement with future research, policy, and practice in this area.
Abstract: Much attention has been devoted to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in recent years. Codes of conduct — or the ethical principles that companies use to guide their practices — have been at the heart of the debate about how global companies should manage their supply chains in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. What characterizes the debate today? Exaggerated claims are often made about the benefits that codes supposedly bring to workers and the environment in the developing world. The risk is that codes of conduct may do more harm than good, because much of the academic and policy-oriented rhetoric on the topic is largely divorced from the realities faced by many developing country suppliers, workers and communities. Using insights from recent fieldwork in the Pakistani sporting goods industry, this contribution attempts to bust five myths that continue to characterize the codes of conduct debate and introduce five recommendations that could lead to a more fruitful engagement with future research, policy, and practice in this area.
TL;DR: A more grounded, historical approach to neoliberalism, and some analytic refinement to capture the different'moments' in its policy evolution, its variant regional modalities, and its co-existence with earlier policies and institutional forms, is presented in this article.
Abstract: The term neoliberal is widely used as shorthand to describe the policy environment of the last three decades. Yet the experience of the Latin American region suggests that it is too broad a descriptor for what is in fact a sequenced, fragmented and politically indeterminate process. This article examines the evolution of social protection in the region, and argues for a more grounded, historical approach to neoliberalism, and for some analytic refinement to capture the different 'moments' in its policy evolution, its variant regional modalities, and its co-existence with earlier policies and institutional forms. It suggests that totalizing conceptions of neoliberalism as imposing an inexorable market logic with predetermined social and political outcomes fail to capture the variant modalities, adaptations and indeed resistance to the global diffusion of the structural reforms. This article outlines the systems of social welfare prevailing in Latin America prior to the reforms, and then examines the principle elements of what has been termed the 'New Social Policy' in Latin America, engaging three issues: the periodization of neoliberalism; the role of the state; and the place of politics in the neoliberal reform agenda. © 2008 Institute of Social Studies.
TL;DR: The technique of participatory video for development and social change continues to gain popularity and success stories around the world as discussed by the authors, and it is intended to be empowering at the local level which ideally will lead to the community solving their own problems, communicating their ideas to other communities or to decision makers to facilitate change.
Abstract: The technique of participatory video for development and social change continues to gain popularity and success stories around the world. Separating participatory video (PV) from traditional documentaries, is the absolute involvement with the community to create their own film, from the content to the actual filmmaking. It is an effective way to bring people together to discuss issues and voice concerns. The process is intended to be empowering at the local level which ideally will lead to the community solving their own problems, communicating their ideas to other communities or to decision makers to facilitate change.
TL;DR: Based on data from an interdisciplinary study of pastoralism in northern Kenya, the authors examines issues of poverty among one of the continent's most vulnerable groups, pastoralists, and challenges the application of such orthodox proxies as incomes/expenditures, geographic remoteness, and market integration.
Abstract: Understanding and alleviating poverty in Africa continues to receive considerable attention from a range of diverse actors, including politicians, international celebrities, academics, activists and practitioners. Despite the onslaught of interest, there is surprisingly little agreement on what constitutes poverty in rural Africa, how it should be assessed, and what should be done to alleviate it. Based on data from an interdisciplinary study of pastoralism in northern Kenya, this article examines issues of poverty among one of the continent's most vulnerable groups, pastoralists, and challenges the application of such orthodox proxies as incomes/expenditures, geographic remoteness, and market integration. It argues that current poverty debates ‘homogenize’ the concept of ‘pastoralist’ by failing to acknowledge the diverse livelihoods and wealth differentiation that fall under the term. The article concludes that what is not needed is another development label (stereotype) that equates pastoralism with poverty, thereby empowering outside interests to transform rather than strengthen pastoral livelihoods.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the changing contours of contestation and civil society-business relations and identify two sets of conditions that are driving the contemporary corporate accountability movement: transformations occurring in the nature of capitalism that connect TNCs with global inequality and injustice; and the failures and limitations of the mainstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda.
Abstract: The nature of activism concerned with the activities of transnational corporations has changed in recent years. In the 1990s, an increasing number of NGOs opted for collaboration as opposed to confrontation. By the turn of the millennium, there were signs that another approach was gaining ground, one that involved new campaigns for corporate accountability and legalistic regulation. This article examines the changing contours of contestation and civil society–business relations. It identifies two sets of conditions that are driving the contemporary ‘corporate accountability movement’: transformations occurring in the nature of capitalism that connect TNCs with global inequality and injustice; and the failures and limitations of the mainstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. It then highlights core conceptual and strategic elements that distinguish the CSR and corporate accountability ‘movements' and assesses the potential of the latter to reassert social control over corporate capitalism.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed forty-one agreements between mining companies and Aboriginal peoples in Australia and argued that negotiated agreements do have the potential to protect indigenous cultural heritage, but only where underlying weaknesses in the bargaining position of indigenous peoples are addressed.
Abstract: Mining and other forms of industrial development can result in profound and often irreversible damage to the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples. Fear of such damage regularly results in indigenous opposition to development and, in many cases, to delays in construction of development projects or even to their abandonment. Government legislation has generally proved ineffective in protecting indigenous heritage. An alternative means of achieving protection arises from the growing recognition of indigenous land rights and the opportunity this creates for negotiations with mining companies regarding the terms on which indigenous landowners may support development. To evaluate the potential efficacy of negotiated approaches, this article analyses forty-one agreements between mining companies and Aboriginal peoples in Australia. It argues that negotiated agreements do have the potential to protect indigenous cultural heritage, but only where underlying weaknesses in the bargaining position of indigenous peoples are addressed. This finding has wider implications given that negotiation and agreement making are increasingly being promoted as a means of addressing the structural disadvantages faced by indigenous peoples and of resolving conflicts between them and dominant societies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the impact of privatizing land among a community of Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya using longitudinal data from household surveys conducted in 2000 and 2005.
Abstract: East African pastoralists have well-developed systems of communal land management that have been challenged by recent demands from some pastoralists for land privatization. This article analyses the impact on household well-being of privatizing land among a community of Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya. Using longitudinal data from household surveys conducted in 2000 and 2005, trends in wealth, income, stratification and livelihood strategies are analysed comparing the privatized community and a community where land remains communally managed. Results indicate few significant differences in wealth and income between the privatized and communal areas, although cultivation has become an important additional strategy in the privatized community. Significant levels of wealth stratification are present in both communities but are mitigated to some extent by mobility across wealth quintiles over time. Wealthy and poor groups exhibit different livelihood strategies with wealthier groups relying more on livestock trade and home consumption while poorer groups depend on wage labour and trade for their income. Policy implications of this analysis include the need for development strategies specific to different wealth groups, greater investment in education and infrastructure, and more attention to employment creation in pastoral areas.
TL;DR: The current concern with corporate social responsibility must be seen in the context of major shifts in the functioning of the market, the state and civil society, and of the boundaries between them, and in the ways that we envision them as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The current concern with corporate social responsibility must be seen in the context of major shifts in the functioning of the market, the state and civil society, and of the boundaries between them, and in the ways that we envision them. Capitalism has been reconfigured as an ethical order in which transnational corporations can, indeed must, be accountable for the global well-being of citizens be they rich or poor, capitalists or workers. This ethical commitment to global justice is to be promoted by the mobilization of civil society, governing with integrity both large corporations and a somewhat marginalized regulatory state. In short, regulation is being privatized. Contributors to the debate which follows vary in the extent to which they accept this vision of how capital is to be governed. There are three principal grounds for scepticism. First, in a world so marked by sharp inequalities of both income and conditions of life, how can corporate initiatives be both profitable and consistent with the interests of the poor? Second, how can global civil society, which is itself structured by relation of power and class, be counted on to regulate corporations in the interest of the poor? Third, do limited corporate reforms undercut alternative transformative projects? Those with greater sympathy for civil society involvement in governing corporate capital point out that transformative projects grow out of everyday experiences of progressive change, not out of defeatist visions of an untransformable hegemonic capital. Readers — please decide.
TL;DR: The authors examines Zimbabwean land politics and the study of rural interventions, including agrarian reform, more broadly, using the analytical framework of territorialized "modes of belonging" and their cultural politics of recognition.
Abstract: This article examines Zimbabwean land politics and the study of rural interventions, including agrarian reform, more broadly, using the analytical framework of territorialized ‘modes of belonging’ and their ‘cultural politics of recognition’. Modes of belonging are the routinized discourses, social practices and institutional arrangements through which people make claims for resources and rights, the ways through which they become ‘incorporated’ in particular places. In these spatialized forms of power and authority, particular cultural politics of recognition operate; these are the cultural styles of interaction that become privileged as proper forms of decorum and morality informing dependencies and interdependencies. The author traces a hegemonic mode of belonging identified as ‘domestic government’, put in place on European farms in Zimbabwe's colonial period, and shows how it was shaped by particular political and economic conjunctures in the first twenty years of Independence after 1980. Domestic government provided a conditional belonging for farm workers in terms of claims to limited resources on commercial farms while positioning them in a way that made them marginal citizens in the nation at large. This is the context for the behaviour of land-giving authorities which have actively discriminated against farm workers during the politicized and violent land redistribution processes that began in 2000. Most former farm workers are now seeking other forms of dependencies, typically more precarious and generating fewer resources and services than they had accessed on commercial farms, with their own particular cultural politics of recognition, often tied to demonstrating support to the ruling political party.
TL;DR: Based on recent research in Hanoi, the authors examines the emergence of NGOs in Vietnam, and relates their development to the civil society discourse which is used by elements of the international donor community to predict the growth of pluralism and democracy.
Abstract: Based on recent research in Hanoi, this article examines the emergence of NGOs in Vietnam, and relates their development to the civil society discourse which is used by elements of the international donor community to predict the growth of pluralism and democracy. After examining the social and political environment of post-reform Vietnam, it does not appear evident that these organizations fit into any definition of civil society which stresses independence from the state and opposition to state ideology.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the commercialization of urban water services in Zambia and demonstrate the tension between cost recovery and service extension when water sector reforms combine investment cuts with price increases.
Abstract: This article focuses on the commercialization of urban water services in Zambia. It aims to demonstrate the tension between cost recovery and service extension when water sector reforms combine investment cuts with price increases. It is argued that in low-income economies where infrastructure limitations are serious and poverty is widespread, heavy reliance on ‘tariff rationalization’ with low levels of investment can lead to reduced access to water and render water charges unaffordable. Reforms to public services can prove futile in the absence of upfront resources for investment in the restoration and extension of the existing infrastructure. In many ways, Zambia typifies other low-income economies; this study thus offers useful lessons for them.
TL;DR: The authors locates the contemporary debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and development within ongoing historical struggles to define the appropriate relationship between business and society, and questions the "fetishization" of regulation as a palliative on the grounds of the assumptions it makes about the nature and capacity of states, markets and civil society alike to deliver effective reform, and the division it presumes between the interests of the state and capital in particular.
Abstract: This contribution locates the contemporary debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and development within ongoing historical struggles to define the appropriate relationship between business and society. It questions the ‘fetishization’ of regulation as a palliative on the grounds of the assumptions it makes about the nature and capacity of states, markets and civil society alike to deliver effective reform, and the division it presumes between the interests of the state and capital in particular. It identifies CSR as a response to a legitimacy crisis within contemporary neoliberalism in general, one faced by global corporations in particular as its most public face, but one which potentially distracts our attention from the interventions which are necessary to address the twin challenges of alleviating poverty and achieving sustainability. Issues of distribution, mobility and consumption are identified as examples of areas of active neglect in the CSR field that deserve more attention if corporations are to make a greater contribution to poverty alleviation.
TL;DR: Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) as discussed by the authors aims to alleviate short-term poverty through cash transfers to poor households, and to reduce longer term poverty through making these transfers conditional on household investment in the health and education of children.
Abstract: Conditional Cash Transfer programmes aim to alleviate short-term poverty through cash transfers to poor households, and to reduce longer-term poverty through making these transfers conditional on household investment in the health and education of children. These programmes have become increasingly popular with institutions such as the World Bank. However, the need for conditionalities has been questioned on a number of levels, including its necessity: it has been suggested that the cash transfer in itself may be sufficient to secure most of the programme's wider aims. The example of Nicaragua supports this contention, demonstrating that only a small incentive is needed to bring the desired changes in the uptake of education, since this is something prized by the poor themselves. In health, the Nicaraguan case suggests that demand-side initiatives might not be as important as supply-side changes that improve the affordability and accessibility of services. The Nicaragua case also highlights the long-term limitations of applying such programmes in countries with high levels of poverty and low economic growth. A gendered analysis of the programme highlights the fact that women ‘beneficiaries’ bear the economic and social cost of the programme without apparent benefit to themselves or even necessarily to the household in the short or longer term.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the cross-border trading networks and practices of highland residents in north-west Vietnam and reveal how such individuals negotiate the political reality of an international border in highly pragmatic ways as they augment their livelihoods by trading commodities with inhabitants in south-west China.
Abstract: This article explores the cross-border trading networks and practices of highland residents in north-west Vietnam. It reveals how such individuals, of highland minority and majority Kinh ethnicities, negotiate the political reality of an international border in highly pragmatic ways as they augment their livelihoods by trading commodities with inhabitants in south-west China. We follow four particular commodities, traded across different political tiers of border crossing (each with specific rules, regulations and negotiations), by a diverse range of traders. In doing so we argue that border access is mediated by a complex and multifaceted set of social and structural components including not only state policy, but ethnically-embedded social relations and specific geographic variables that, in turn, are engendering disparate economic opportunities.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the potential that statebuilding interventions have to institutionalize social justice, in addition to their more immediate 'negative' peace mandates, and the impact this might have, both on local state legitimacy and the character of the 'peace' that might follow.
Abstract: This article is concerned with the potential that statebuilding interventions have to institutionalize social justice, in addition to their more immediate 'negative' peace mandates, and the impact this might have, both on local state legitimacy and the character of the 'peace' that might follow. Much recent scholarship has stressed the legitimacy of a state's behaviour in relation to conformity to global governance norms or democratic 'best practice'. Less evident is a discussion of the extent to which post-conflict polities are able to engender the societal legitimacy central to political stability. As long as this level of legitimacy is absent (and it is hard to generate), civil society is likely to remain distant from the state, and peace and stability may remain elusive. A solution to this may be to apply existing international legislation centred in the UN and the ILO to compel international organizations and national states to deliver basic needs security through their institutions. This has the effect of stimulating local-level state legitimacy while simultaneously formalizing social justice and positive peacebuilding.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the digital divide is not merely a problem of access to ICTs, but a larger developmental problem in which vast sections of the world's population are deprived of the capabilities to use ICT, acquire information and convert information into useful knowledge.
Abstract: Combining empirical evidence with Amartya Sen's concept of capabilities, this article argues that the digital divide is not merely a problem of access to ICTs. It is part of a larger developmental problem in which vast sections of the world's population are deprived of the capabilities to use ICTs, acquire information and convert information into useful knowledge. Fieldwork research including sample surveys conducted in rural locations in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in India shows that these capabilities can only be created through large-scale complementary interventions in economic and social development.
TL;DR: In this article, a new dalit movement making use of a "transnational advocacy network strategy" will be compared to a more "classical" Dalit political party, and it is argued that the achievements of the new movement are tempered by the fact that in order to make use of international discourses and political pressure, the movement has had to develop a strategy and policy proposals compatible with existing mainstream neoliberal discourses.
Abstract: In India, movements and parties representing the lowest ranking dalit caste groups have followed different strategies in their struggle against social, economic and cultural discrimination. In this article, a new dalit movement making use of a ‘transnational advocacy network strategy’ will be compared to a more ‘classical’dalit political party. The main policy target for the new movement is an extension of existing affirmative action policies, while the dalit BSP party focuses more on emancipatory issues. Based on an analysis of the impacts of the BSP and of the new movement at the grassroots level, it is argued that the achievements of the new movement are tempered by the fact that in order to make use of international discourses and political pressure, the movement has had to develop a strategy and policy proposals compatible with existing mainstream neoliberal discourses. This depoliticizes the policies, and hence makes them of less importance strategically. It is argued that this is likely to be a difficulty for transnational advocacy networks in general.
TL;DR: In this paper, a special section focusing on the social policy reforms of recent years in Latin America is introduced, identifying and discussing the principal trends and challenges in social policy in the region since the 1980s.
Abstract: This article introduces a special section focusing on the social policy reforms of recent years in Latin America. The essay identifies and discusses the principal trends and challenges in social policy in the region since the 1980s, before providing a summary of the special section and linking up the themes of the four contributions that follow. These highlight the variety of approaches adopted, as well as the differing assessments of recent developments. The authors note that while the reform process itself is unfolding, it is striking that social policy has become a highly visible and contested issue in the region.
TL;DR: In South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign's street pressure and legal strategy to acquire anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-positive people, Sowetans whose street protests helped drive Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux out of Johannesburg and whose constitutional case over the right to water attacked its commercialization policies, and climate activists who oppose carbon trading.
Abstract: If Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is often reduced to ‘greenwashing’ for naive middle-class consumers, is there a more durable force to address excessive profit taking and consequent underdevelopment? While the post-apartheid era in South Africa has been celebrated, with little foresight, for an ‘economic boom’ that restored relative corporate profitability to levels last witnessed during apartheid's heyday, the same period saw world-class social opposition to corporate power. Three areas are illustrative: the Treatment Action Campaign's street pressure and legal strategy to acquire anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-positive people; Sowetans whose street protests helped drive Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux out of Johannesburg and whose constitutional case over the right to water attacked its commercialization policies; and climate activists who oppose carbon trading. Meanwhile, activists also demanded reparations from apartheid-tainted transnational corporations in the US courts through the Alien Tort Claims Act, while a ‘Corpse Awards' was launched by activists in part to mitigate against CSR efforts. The critiques of corporations — and CSR — and the motivation for social activism are informed by strategic principles of ‘decommodification’ and ‘deglobalization of capital’; the first cannot work without the second.