Globalizing Decency: Responsible Engagement in an Era of Economic Integration

Abstract

The prevailing view in the foreign policies of many Western countries holds that "constructive" economic engagement with repressive regimes will induce human rights sensitive development. A very vigorous dissenting position, held by many opponents of "globalization," is that economic engagement and liberalization fuel many of the very human rights abuses they are supposed to cure. The empirical evidence tends to support a nuanced approach to constructive engagement, one that might be termed "responsible engagement." Under a responsible engagement model, there remains an important role for economic sanctions, both as a means of affecting the behavior of nation-states and to stave off the possibility that citizens of one country are contributing to the persistence of the targeted repressive regime. Responsible engagement obliges recourse to "smart sanctions." Yet, the legal apparatus governing economic integration is, on the whole, built without an eye to a "smart sanctions" responsible engagement policy. This Article explores these assertions and concludes that a full-fledged strategy of responsible engagement obliges reconsideration and clarification of several facets of the World Trade Organization