FAIR TRADE and GLOBAL JUSTICE: the Radical Possibilities of Reform

Carleton University FAIR TRADE AND GLOBAL JUSTICE: The Radical Possibilities of Reform A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Institute of Political Economy by Anna Torgerson Ottawa, Ontario July 2007 ©Anna Torgerson Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Library and Bibliotheque et Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-33776-9 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-33776-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce,Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve,sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet,distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform,et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be includedBien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. i * i Canada Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract Fair trade has emerged in the context of various struggles, collectively termed the global justice movement, that challenge neoliberal efforts to deregulate international markets in the name of free trade. Although often characterized simply as an isolated reform initiative, the fair trade system exhibits radical possibilities when considered in the context of these struggles. With attention focused on a case study of fair trade banana production, as well as the literature on coffee, fair trade is itself treated here not as fixed in form, but as a site of struggle. Informed by a Polanyian perspective, moreover, the thesis argues that fair trade opposes reliance on the free market and presents an alternative that tends to re-embed the economy in social relations. Polanyi’s concept of “countermovement” is employed to maintain that the radical possibilities of fair trade depend upon strengthening connections with radical initiatives in the global justice movement. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. Chapter I. Fair Trade in Theory: Questioning the Free Trade Ideal ....................... 14 1. Fair Trade: A Challenge to the Liberal Ideal 2. Fair Trade: Re-embedding the Economy in Society? 3. Aristotle and Aquinas: Natural Exchange and the Just Price 4. Adam Smith: The Self-Regulating Market 5. Challenging the Market Mechanism: Marx and Polanyi 6. The Disembedded Economy and the Countermovement 7. Polanyi in a Contemporary Context 8. Fair Trade’s Alternative Logic Chapter II. Fair Trade in Practice: The Case of Banana Production in the Windward Islands...............................................................................................52 1. Colonial History of the Banana Industry in St. Vincent and the Windward Islands 2. The Liberalization of the Banana Trade 3. Fair Trade Bananas in St. Vincent 4. Fair Trade Bananas and Coffee: A Comparison of Cases 5. Windward Islands Farmers and Global Justice Chapter III. Radical Possibilities of Fair Trade and Global Justice ....................... 88 1. The Fair Trade System 2. Movements for Global Justice: One “No” and Many “Yeses” 3. Radical and Reformist Tendencies in the Movement of Movements 4. Fair Trade: A Convergence between Radicalism and Reformism? 5. Mainstreaming Fair Trade 6. The Debate over Corporate Involvement 7. Fair Trade and Public Institutions 8. The Future of Fair Trade Conclusion: Toward a Fair Trade Strategy ............................................................... 124 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACP African Caribbean Pacific ATO Alternative Trade Organization ATTAC Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens CARICOM Caribbean Community and Common Market CEO Chief Executive Officer Cl Conservation International CSA Community Supported Agriculture DAN Direct Action Network DSP Dispute Settlement Process EC$ East Caribbean Dollar EPA Economic Partnership Agreement EU European Union EZLN Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) FOB Freight On Board FLO Fairtrade Labeling Organization International GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GDP Gross Domestic Product IFAT International Fair Trade Association IMF International Monetary Fund ISO International Organization for Standardization NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NGO Non-Governmental Organization NIs National Initiatives SAL Structural Adjustment Loan SAP Structural Adjustment Program SVBGA St. Vincent Banana Growers’ Association TNC Transnational Corporation UFCO United Fruit Company WIBDECO Windward Islands Banana Development and Exporting Company WINBAN Windward Islands Banana Growers’ Association WINFA Windward Islands National Farmers’ Association WSF World Social Forum WTO World Trade Organization WWII World War II Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Introduction The straggle for global justice takes many forms. We find no single movement, or a simple plurality of new social movements, but what has been called a “movement of movements” that—despite their diversity—share a common opposition to neoliberal economic globalization (Klein 2002: 4; Ayres 2004: 25-26; Shepard 2004). The most dramatic actions of the movement have involved large-scale protests against neoliberal international institutions and the legacy of colonialism. First attaining widespread public visibility with the Seattle protest against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1999, such demonstrations have now occurred throughout the world, from the Quebec City protest in 2000 to demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2005. Such transnational protests attract activists affiliated with many different movements that deal with social and environmental concerns while pointing to a common target: neoliberal globalization. The ends of the different groups may vary, with some explicitly seeking moderate reforms and others demanding radical transformation, but they can all be regarded as connected in the sense of being part of a larger movement opposed to the deregulated form of capitalism promoted by neoliberalism.1 This thesis looks at one straggle in particular, the effort to promote fair trade—especially through fair trade certification initiatives—and examines this effort in terms of its connections with the global justice movement. The argument is that the fair trade system is not an isolated reform initiative, but a site of straggle that could become integral to the movement of movements. As a 1 Here, I use the term “deregulated” in order to describe the form of capitalism that neoliberalism tends to promote. Neoliberalism involves the deregulation of markets—toward the ideal of “free” markets— however, neoliberal policy does not mean that markets become unregulated. The term deregulated emphasizes that neoliberalism involves a shift away from old forms of regulation toward new forms of regulation that accord with the rules of financial institutions such as the WTO, rules that are skewed in favour of already powerful countries. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. site of struggle, fair trade does not have a pre-determined future, and the system might be developed in a way that strengthens its connections with radical initiatives in the global justice movement. The diversity of this larger movement is evident in efforts to characterize or name the wide range of emerging initiatives that resist neoliberalism. The thesis will rely mainly on the term “global justice movement”, while recognizing that the movement also incorporates elements that are perhaps better classified with the term “anti-globalization” or “alterglobalization” (Starr 2005: 113). Although diverse and sometimes even in conflict, the movements that make up the global justice movement—ranging from calls for a Tobin

Load more