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Dangerous Liaisons: Human Security, Neoliberalism, and Corporate (Mis)Conduct
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Dangerous Liaisons: Human Security, Neoliberalism, and Corporate (Mis)Conduct
Kyle Grayson, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Canadian Consortium on Human SecurityCentre for International and Security Studies, York University, Canada
1
## email not listed ##
This is a very preliminary draft. Please do not cite without the permission of the author.
Abstract
Human security has been presented by a growing collection of states as a concept that is transformingglobal governance structures in significant ways by broadening and deepening understandings of securityto address the needs of common people. Yet the entrenchment of the human security paradigm withinseveral members of the human security vanguard has been accompanied by a renewed commitment tothe principles of neoliberalism both domestically and within the international sphere. Thus, the dominanceof neoliberal economic ideology has created various ‘common-sense’ propositions with respect to humansecurity that has made it possible for rights, responsibilities, problems, and solutions to be defined inparticular ways that narrow the policy spaces in which states with human security agendas are preparedto act while maintaining other unequal power/relations that benefit national economic interests. As such,this paper will examine how human security has been reconciled with reductions in other forms of state-led social regulation and an increasing deference to market imperatives that are constitutive of ageopolitical gaze that enables and disables particular types of policy actions through the identification ofthreats, opportunities, and moments that necessitate the evasion of responsibility. The specific empiricalfocus will be centred around the discursive relations of the human security agenda in Canada that havethus far left Canadian-based transnational corporations unaccountable for gross misconduct thatcontributes to human insecurity.
Introduction
David Held has recently argued that the current global order brought about by the multi-directional and
multi-dimensional processes of globalization, has moved away “...from a world based exclusively on state
politics to a new and more complex form of global politics and multilayered governance” (Held 2004: 162).
Yet, despite the proliferation of global norms, sites of governance, and the recognition that the ‘public
good’– from poverty reduction to the promotion of stable financial systems–requires multilateral actions to
be viable, Held diagnoses the contemporary dynamics of global politics as suffering from a social
1
Research for this paper has been made possible through the financial support of the Canadian
Consortium on Human Security (CCHS) and the Human Security Program of the Department of ForeignAffairs and International Trade (now Foreign Affairs Canada). The views however are my own and do notnecessarily represent those of the CCHS or its affiliated institutions.
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1
Dangerous Liaisons: Human Security, Neoliberalism, and Corporate (Mis)Conduct
Kyle Grayson, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Canadian Consortium on Human Security
Centre for International and Security Studies, York University, Canada
1
## email not listed ##
This is a very preliminary draft. Please do not cite without the permission of the author.
Abstract
Human security has been presented by a growing collection of states as a concept that is transforming
global governance structures in significant ways by broadening and deepening understandings of security
to address the needs of common people. Yet the entrenchment of the human security paradigm within
several members of the human security vanguard has been accompanied by a renewed commitment to
the principles of neoliberalism both domestically and within the international sphere. Thus, the dominance
of neoliberal economic ideology has created various ‘common-sense’ propositions with respect to human
security that has made it possible for rights, responsibilities, problems, and solutions to be defined in
particular ways that narrow the policy spaces in which states with human security agendas are prepared
to act while maintaining other unequal power/relations that benefit national economic interests. As such,
this paper will examine how human security has been reconciled with reductions in other forms of state-
led social regulation and an increasing deference to market imperatives that are constitutive of a
geopolitical gaze that enables and disables particular types of policy actions through the identification of
threats, opportunities, and moments that necessitate the evasion of responsibility. The specific empirical
focus will be centred around the discursive relations of the human security agenda in Canada that have
thus far left Canadian-based transnational corporations unaccountable for gross misconduct that
contributes to human insecurity.
Introduction
David Held has recently argued that the current global order brought about by the multi-directional and
multi-dimensional processes of globalization, has moved away “...from a world based exclusively on state
politics to a new and more complex form of global politics and multilayered governance” (Held 2004: 162).
Yet, despite the proliferation of global norms, sites of governance, and the recognition that the ‘public
good’– from poverty reduction to the promotion of stable financial systems–requires multilateral actions to
be viable, Held diagnoses the contemporary dynamics of global politics as suffering from a social
1
Research for this paper has been made possible through the financial support of the Canadian
Consortium on Human Security (CCHS) and the Human Security Program of the Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade (now Foreign Affairs Canada). The views however are my own and do not
necessarily represent those of the CCHS or its affiliated institutions.
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