Assignment #2

Communication and Global Justice

Friedrich Hayek has called social justice a “mirage.” In fact, it is the subject of an entire book he has written (volume two of his Law, Legislation and Liberty, 1976). Hayek’s perspective offered an intellectual foundation for much of the work that took place in the UK and the USA from the 1980s onward to dismantle social provisions and “reform” the welfare state. In fact, Hayek’s reasoning underlies much of what is popularly termed “neoliberal” political-economic thought.

Based on the article by Hayek and the critique by Steven Lukes, you should have gained a basic understanding of what Hayek finds problematic about the notion of social justice. But the story doesn’t end with Hayek, nor with the social welfare states of the global North. The so-called “structural adjustment” policies that have been imposed on countries of the South that are saddled with tremendous foreign debt have led to drastic reductions and outright elimination of many forms of social provision in those countries, leading to revolts in some places, and to a global movement for debt cancellation.

Foreign debt is not the only issue that has led to unprecedented global coordination and mobilization among activists worldwide, and intense solidarity, in calls for “justice across borders.” Based on the readings this week’s that offer basic background on what is now commonly referred to as the “global justice movement,” please reflect on the contemporary resurgence of calls for social justice and the demands now being directed at institutions of global governance. To what extent is this movement enabled by the means of global communication? How central to the global justice movement does communication rights activism seem to be? What might a Hayekian critique of the global justice movement argue? What might it have to say about communication rights activism?

You may find it useful to refer back to the following reading from February 9:

Andrew Calabrese (1997). Creative destruction? From the welfare state to the global information society. Javnost/The Public, 4(4), 7-24.

Some supplemental documents that might be worth browsing are the following:

Anup Shah, “Free Trade and Globalization: A Primer on Neoliberalism,” from globalissues.org.

Documents from the World Summit on the Information Society: 1) Geneva Declaration of Principles; 2) Tunis Commitment; 3) Civil Society Declaration to the World Summit on the Information Society: “Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs”; 4) Civil Society WSIS Statement: “Much More Could Have Been Achieved”

Finally, this Friday, I am planning to show a portion of the PBS series, “Commanding Heights,” which explains the ascent of Hayek and the “Chicago boys” in influencing national and transnational economic policy.