The Political Economy of Austerity and Human Rights Law

Abstract

The 'Great recession' that has been ongoing since 2008 has had a serious impact on the realization of economic and social rights in many countries. When the balancing between limited economic resources and the discretion granted to states for the realization of economic and social rights results in an adverse impact on the lives of individuals, the attention is commonly turned to improving the state of the protection scheme. Yet, as the economic crisis has re-invoked practically all classical debates concerning economic and social rights, it has also revealed the depth of the controversies involved. Further development of the economic and social rights protection scheme in face of austerity measures may therefore be an insurmountable task.