NEOLIBERALISM Global neoliberalism and education and its consequences

Trading Away Human Rights? 85by organizations of the “civil society,” which have already proclaimed in anofficial declaration that “education is a right, not a commodity” (EuropeanSocial Forum, 2002).WTO: “A Trade’s, Trade’s World”This problem clearly results from the trade-oriented nature of the politics oflaw at the WTO. Within the WTO, “decisions taken reflect primarily thevoice of the main trading nations,” and at the national level,domestic trade policy formation is marked by similar inequalities in termsof who is inside the process and who is kept outside . . . For example, thepower departments—commerce and finance—are likely to be there, butyou will seldom find the weaker environmental or social policy departments.We also see the representation of major commercial interests innational trade policy and investments decisions. (Mehra, 2001, p. 81).While civil society groups struggle to have access to the political debate, influentialcommercial lobbies and “invisible economic actors” are manipulatingnational policy making to use human rights as tradable commodities. AsBarnhizer (2001) points out,they can use their global power to manipulate national policy-making,to influence both corrupt and honest political leaders, and move theirresources and bases of activity freely if they see better deals elsewhere orare resisted in their efforts to gain concessions . . . The very concept ofdemocracy is threatened by the scale on which such enormously powerfuland unaccountable economic leviathans operate and by the equivalentscale of institutions such as . . . the World Trade Organization.” (p. 5)This uncertainty concerning the relation between the GATS and education isemphasized by the opacity of the negotiations. Negotiations on the developmentof GATS are lead by states, which make proposals, requests, and offers.However, final decisions and commitments are the result of secret negotiationsheld at the headquarters of the WTO in Geneva, behind closed doors (Jennar,2000). This lack of transparency is a problem that applies to the WTO systemin general. It creates an issue of democratic control that is particularly a matterof concern with respect to important public goods like education. Thus,the system operates outside the ability of any nation’s citizens to control.They [trade negotiators] take decisions, create policies, and implement actionsthat have never been agreed to by the citizens of a particular nation. . . The result is that the mechanisms of citizen participation and politicalcontrol over decisions that impact their lives in the most fundamentalways are becoming increasingly remote.” (Barnhizer, 2001, p. 5).