Human Rights and Public Finance: Budgets and the Promotion of Economic and Social Rights

Description

This edited collection addresses some of the most important challenges in contemporary human rights law and practice. Its central theme is the linkage between public finance, particularly budget decisions, and the realisation (or not) of economic and social rights. While much academic and political debate on economic and social rights implementation has focused on the role of the courts, this work places the spotlight squarely on those organs of government that have the primary responsibility and the greatest capacity for giving effect to such rights: namely, the elected branches of government. The major actors considered in this book are politicians, public servants and civil society, with their role in realising economic and social rights the work's key focus. The book thus makes a crucial contribution to remedying the current imbalance in attention paid by economic and social rights scholars to the legislature and executive vis-a-vis the judiciary. Featuring pioneering work by leading experts in the field of human rights and public finance, this multidisciplinary collection will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, public servants and students working in the areas of law, human rights, economics, development and political science.

Aoife Nolan is Professor of International Human Rights Law at the School of Law, Nottingham University. Rory O'Connell is Professor of Human Rights and Constitutional Law at the Transitional Justice Institute/School of Law, University of Ulster. Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Law, Queen's University Belfast.

... identifying and clarifying what the obligations to work towards the full realisation of the [International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights] rights entail vis-a-vis public finance is an urgent task that deserves close attention from scholars as well as practitioners. Given the fundamental importance of social and economic rights and the political rhetoric of 'permanent austerity' in many countries the collection is timely, and it provides an important contribution to the on-going debates. -- Jaakko Kuosmanen * Oxford Human Rights Hub * The volume offers not only good quality contributions, but also a short biography of the authors, an explanation of the abbreviations, an introduction, and, at the end of the volume, a useful index...All the authors of this volume show, with both theoretical foundations and practical evidence, how neoliberal policies are insufficient to fight a severe financial crisis. Different paradigms...are proposed. Every contribution is well supported with references to international policies and concrete results, making the proposed alternative approaches desirable. -- Floriana Ferro * Nordicum-Mediterraneum - Icelandic e-journal of Nordic and Mediterraneum Studies, Volume 9, Number. 1 * The volume offers not only good quality contributions, but also a short biography of the authors, an explanation of the abbreviations, an introduction, and, at the end of the volume, a useful index...All the authors of this volume show, with both theoretical foundations and practical evidence, how neoliberal policies are insufficient to fight a severe financial crisis. Different paradigms...are proposed. Every contribution is well supported with references to international policies and concrete results, making the proposed alternative approaches desirable. -- Floriana Ferro * Nordicum-Mediterraneum: Icelandic e-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies * ...a timely book contributing to the scholarly literature on our understanding of how public finance policies and institutions affect human rights...The discussion is well integrated and cohesive...a sophisticated critique...[It] provides an important contribution to the intensifying debates about the impact of financial belt-tightening on many cherished human rights. -- Benjamin Richardson * International and Comparative Law Quarterly *