Just trade : a new covenant linking trade and human rights /

This work is an ambitious attempt to redefine the relationship between international trade law and the legal and moral principles of international human rights. Powell and Hernandez (both, Levin College of Law Univ. of Florida) mostly succeed in the effort to demonstrate the compatibility of these two areas of international law. Trade interests and human rights are often portrayed as diametrically opposed due to the potential for trade liberalization to have deleterious effects on the rights of workers, the poor, and women in the developing world. In addition to linking trade and human rights, this volume addresses environmental law as it relates to trade and humanitarianism. A major strength of this book is its systematic review of international human rights law and international trade law, as well as the analysis of problems that result from a lack of coherent legal (and moral) linkages between them. Most of the examples used by the authors come from the Western hemisphere, which might disappoint readers who have interests in Asia, Africa, Europe, and elsewhere. Nevertheless, this is an impressive book that constructs a noteworthy case regarding how trade and human rights law can be reconstituted so that they are largely coterminous and mutually supportive. Summing Up: Recommended. All undergraduates and above. J. R. Strand University of Nevada, Las Vegas