Expressions of international contestation and mechanisms of democratic control

Abstract

In this article, the authors examine various questions regarding the new expressions of international contestation, analysing answers and reactions from states to the emergence of non‐governmental actors opposed to the present world order who claim to propose alternatives to neo‐liberal governance. To do so, the authors identify some of the more visible movements of contestation against economic globalisation, like the Seattle, Prague, and Genoa demonstrations, and, first of all, the four editions of the World Social Forum that have taken place, first in Porto Alegre and latterly in Mumbai. At the same time, the article shows the interstate relations that aim to control and if necessary repress these movements, particularly after the attacks on 11 September 2001, and surveys the main legal measures adopted by governments and international institutions, in particular within the European Union. Finally, an account is given of certain strategies to “jurisdictionalise” international conflicts, which some new kinds of litigants purport to use to give legitimacy and visibility to contested claims by directing them to a third‐party adjudicator (a tribunal, a mediator, a humanitarian body, etc.).