Description
In the context of much controversy, this book looks at a range of exciting and imaginative ways in which poor and marginalized groups from around the world claim their rights and demand accountability for the realisation of those rights. Groups mobilizing around the right to water, housing or for fair working conditions often find themselves aligned against powerful state and corporate interests. Experiences from the global North and South are combined to generate key insights into who mobilizes and how and when this makes a difference to the lives of the poor. Contents 1. Rights, resources and the politics of accountability: An introduction — Peter Newell and Joanna Wheeler 2. Taking accountability into account: The debate so far — Peter Newell Part 1: Rights and resources Overview: The political economy of resources and the cultural politics of rights: challenges for accountability — Peter Newell and Joanna Wheeler 3. Do human rights make a difference to poor and vulnerable people? Accountability for the right to water in South Africa — Lyla Mehta 4. Managing watersheds and the right to water: Indigenous communities in search of accountability and inclusion in Southern Veracruz — Luisa Pare and Carlos Robles 5. Conflicting rights, environmental agendas, and the challenges of accountability: social mobilisation and protected natural areas in Mexico — Luisa Pare and Carlos Cortez 6. From Protest to Proactive Action: Building Institutional Accountability Through Struggles for the Right to Housing — Celestine Nyamu 7. Rights to health and struggles for accountability in a Brazilian municipal health council — Andrea Cornwall, Silvia Cordeiro and Nelson Giordano Delgado Part 2: Investor accountabilities Overview: Rights, resources, and investor accountability — Peter Newell and Joanna Wheeler 8. Corporate accountability and citizen action: Cases from India — Peter Newell with Vaijanyanta Anand, Hasrat Arjjumend, Harsh Jaitli, Sampath Kumar and A.B.S.V. Ranga Rao 9. Environmental injustice, law and accountability — Rohit Lekhi and Peter Newell 10. Oil and accountability issues in the Niger Delta — Oga Steve Abah and Jenks Zakari Okwori 11. Compliance versus accountability: Struggles for dignity and daily bread in the Bangladesh garment industry — Simeen Mahmud and Naila Kabeer 12. Accountability begins at home: The living wage movement in the United States — Stephanie Luce