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Globalization and the Bhopal Disaster: A Criminogenic Inquiry

Year 2013, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 91 - 112, 30.05.2016

Abstract

Globalization has had progress and despairs, and has also opened the door to heated debates. The trend has been to globalize property rights. With this comes the sense that duties to civil society in the way of harm prevention, justice, and protection of the natural environment are easily side-stepped. The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 remains the world’s worst industrial disaster and worth revisiting so as to understand the culture of corporate behavior in disclaiming and side-stepping certain vital social responsibilities. This paper revisits the Bhopal Disaster and highlights elements that ought to keep us vigilant about the path globalization takes.

References

  • Agarwal, A, Merrifield, J. and Tandon, R. (1985). No Place to Run: Local Realities and Global Issues of the Bhopal Disaster. Tennessee: Highlander Center and Society of Participatory Research in Asia.
  • Amnesty International Report. (2004). “Clouds of Injustice: Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On – Summary,” Amnesty International Report ASA 20/015/2004. (Author not listed.)
  • Amnesty International – News. (2010). “First Convictions for 1984 Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal too little, too late.” 7 June 2010. Available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/first-convictions-1984-union- carbide-disaster-bhopal-too-little-too-late-2010-06-07
  • Anderson, R. J. (2010). “Reimagining Human Rights Law: Toward Global Regulation of Transnational Corporations.” Denver University Law Review, Vol. 88, No. 1: 236.
  • Banerjee, B. N. (1986). Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Accident or Experiment. New Delhi: Paribus, Publishers.
  • Bennett, M. C., Burke, J.T., and Vermuelen, F. James T. Burke and Freek. (2005). “Union Carbide, Bhopal.” London Business School, (Case Study). Accessed 18 June at http://www.london.edu/facultyandresearch/researchactivities/birlaindiacentre/p ublications.html
  • Bhalla, S.S. (2002). Imagine There’s No Country: Poverty, Inequality, and Growth in the Era of Globalization. Washington: Institute for International Economics.
  • Bhopal Group for Information and Action. (2000). “Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal, Fact Sheet.” Bhopal: Bhopal Group for Information and Action, December 2000.
  • Bowonder, B., Kasperson, J.X.,, and Kasperson, R.E. (1984). “Avoiding Future Bhopals.” Environment, Vol. 27, No. 7 (September): 6-37.
  • Broughton, E. (2005). “The Bhopal Disaster and its Aftermath: A Review.” Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source. Vol. 4,, No. 6. Available at http://www.ehjournal.net/content/4/1/6
  • Browning, J.B. (1993). “Union Carbide: Disaster at Bhopal.” In Crisis Response: Inside Stories on Managing Under Siege. Ed. Jack A. Gottschalk. Michigan: Visible Ink Press. Accessed 23 June 2013 at: http://www.bhopal.com/~/media/Files/Bhopal/browning.pdf
  • Chouhan, T.R. (1994). Bhopal: The Inside Story. Caribde Workers Speak Out on the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster. New York: The Apex Press.
  • Dhara, V. R. and Dhara, R. (2002). “Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal: A Review of Health Effects.” Archives of Environmental Health, Vo. 57, No. 5 (September/October): 404.
  • Eckerman, I. (2005). The Bhopal Saga: Causes and Consequences of the World’s Largest Industrial Disaster. Hyderabad: Universities Press.
  • Economist. (1992). “Let Them East Pollution.” Economist (London). 8 February.
  • Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth. (2005). Gas Flaring in Nigeria: A Human Rights, Environmental and Economic Monstrosity. Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth: The Netherlands.
  • Ezeonu, I. (2008). “Crimes of Globalization: Healthcare, Poverty, and the Crimes of Neoliberalism in Sub-Saharan Africa.” International Journal of Social Inquiry, Vol. 1, No. 2: 113-134.
  • Fletcher, I. C., Ono, T., and Roy, A. (2005). “Justice for Bhopal.” Radical History Review, Issue 91 (Winter): 7-12.
  • Friedrichs, D. O. (2007). “Transnational Crime and Global Criminology.” Social Justice, 34(108): 4-18. See p.5.
  • Friedrichs, D. O. and Friedrichs, J. (2002). “The World Bank and Crimes of Globalization: A Case Study.” In Social Justice Vol. 29, Nos. 1-2: 13-36.
  • Fink, Steven. (1986). Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable. New York: Amacom.
  • Giddens, A. (1999). Runaway World. London: Profile Books.
  • Groarke, L. (2000). “Can Capitalism Save Itself: Some Ruminations on the Fate of Capitalism.” In John Douglas Bishop (ed.), Ethics and Capitalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press: 196-217.
  • Hager, R. (1995). “Bhopal: Counting Disaster.” CovertAction, Summer: 38-56.
  • Held, D. (2004). Global Governance Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Helleiner, G.K. (2001). “Markets, Politics, and Globalization: Can the Global Economy Be Civilized.” Global Governance, vol. 7: 243-263.
  • Hill, R.P. and Rapp, J.M. (2008). “Globalization and Poverty: Oxymoron or New Possibilities?” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 85: 39-47
  • Howard-Hassman, R. (2010). Can Globalization Promote Human Rights? Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press.
  • (ICMR Report 2010) Indian Council of Medical Research. (2010). Health Effects of the Toxic Gas Leak from Union Carbide Methyl Isocyanate Plant in Bhopal: Technical Report on Pathology and Toxicology (1984-1992). New Delhi: Indian Council of Medical Research.
  • Izarali. M. R. (2011). “Mitigating Globalization With Basic Human Rights to Protect Basic Human Needs.” Global Studies Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4.
  • Mathur, C. and Morehouse, Ward. (2002). “Twice Poisoned Bhopal: Notes on the Continuing Aftermath of the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster.” International Labor and Working Class History, No. 62 (Fall): 69-75.
  • McMurtry, J. (1998). Unequal Freedoms: The Global Market as an Ethical System. Toronto: Garamond Press.
  • Mishra, P.K., Samarth, R.M., Pathak, N, Jain, S.K., Banerjee, S., and Maudar, K.K. (2009). “Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Review of Clinical and Experimental Findings After 25 Years.” International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, vol. 22, No. 3: 193-202.
  • Monshipouri, M., Welch, C.E., Jr. and Kennedy, E.T. (2003). “Multinational Corporations and the Ethics of Global Responsibility: Problems and Possibilities.” Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 25: 965-989.
  • Morehouse, W., and Subramaniam, M.A. (1986). The Bhopal Tragedy: What Really Happened and What it Means for American Workers and Communities at Risk. New York: Council on International and Public Affairs.
  • Pogge, T. (2002). World Poverty and Human Rights. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Payne, C.L. (2009). “Brining Home the Bacon or Not? Globalization and Government Respect for Economic and Social Rights.” Human Rights Review, Vol. 10: 413-429.
  • Pillay, S. (2006). “Absence of Justice: Lessons from the Bhopal Union Carbide Disaster for Latin America. Michigan State Journal of International Law Vol. 14: 478-519.
  • Report of the ICFTU-ICEF Mission. Author (s) not listed. Undated. Obtained from the Sambhavna Clinic, Bhopal.
  • Robertson, C. and Fadil, P.A. (1998). “Developing Corporate Codes of Ethics in Multinational Firms: Bhopal Revisited.” Journal of Managerial Issues 10.4.
  • Rogge, M.J. (2001). “Towards Transnational Corporate Accountability in the Global Economy: Challenging the Doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens in Re: Union Carbide, Alfaro, and Sequihua and Aguinda. Texas International Law Journal, Vol. 36, No. 299: 317.
  • Sarangi, S. (2002). “Crimes of Bhopal and the Global Campaign for Justice.” Social Justice, Vol. 29, No.3: 47-52.
  • Sarangi, S. (2009). “Global Industrial Disaster, National State Failure and Local Self Provision of Health Care. Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 316-318.
  • Sharma, H. R. (2009). “Globalizing Disaster, Provincializing Law: Bhopal 25 Years Later.” Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 321-324.
  • Shiva, V. (1999). “Ecological Balance in an Era of Globalization.” In Global Ethics & Environment, ed., Nicholas Low, 47-69. London: Routledge.
  • Singer, P. (2004). One World: The Ethics of Globalization. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Shrishti. (2002). Surviving Bhopal 2002, Toxic Present – Toxic Future: A Report on Human and Environmental Chemical Contamination around the Bhopal disaster site (For the Fact Finding Mission on Bhopal). New Delhi: Srishti, January.
  • Stiglitz, J. (2002). Globalization and its Discontents. London: W.W. Norton & Company.
  • Stiglitz, J. (2008). “Making Globalization Work.” The Economic and Social Review, Vol. , No. 3 (Winter): 171-190.
  • Summers, L. (1992). “Let Them Eat Pollution.” Economist (London), 8 February, p.66.
  • Trotter, R. C., Day, S.G., Love, A.E. (1989). “Bhopal, India and Union Carbide.” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 8: 439-454.
  • Trouillot, M. (2002). “The Perspective of the World: Globalization Then and Now.” In Beyond Dichotomies: Histories, Identities, Cultures, and the Challenge of Globalization, ed., M. Elisabeth Mudimbe-boyi. Pp.3-20. New York: State University of New York.
  • www.unioncarbide.com
  • Walters, R. (2009). “Bhopal, Corporate Crime and Harms of the Powerful. Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 324-327.
  • Zavestoski, S. (2009). “The Struggle for Justice in Bhopal: A New/Old Breed of Old Transnational Social Movement.” Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 383-407.
Year 2013, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 91 - 112, 30.05.2016

Abstract

References

  • Agarwal, A, Merrifield, J. and Tandon, R. (1985). No Place to Run: Local Realities and Global Issues of the Bhopal Disaster. Tennessee: Highlander Center and Society of Participatory Research in Asia.
  • Amnesty International Report. (2004). “Clouds of Injustice: Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On – Summary,” Amnesty International Report ASA 20/015/2004. (Author not listed.)
  • Amnesty International – News. (2010). “First Convictions for 1984 Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal too little, too late.” 7 June 2010. Available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/first-convictions-1984-union- carbide-disaster-bhopal-too-little-too-late-2010-06-07
  • Anderson, R. J. (2010). “Reimagining Human Rights Law: Toward Global Regulation of Transnational Corporations.” Denver University Law Review, Vol. 88, No. 1: 236.
  • Banerjee, B. N. (1986). Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Accident or Experiment. New Delhi: Paribus, Publishers.
  • Bennett, M. C., Burke, J.T., and Vermuelen, F. James T. Burke and Freek. (2005). “Union Carbide, Bhopal.” London Business School, (Case Study). Accessed 18 June at http://www.london.edu/facultyandresearch/researchactivities/birlaindiacentre/p ublications.html
  • Bhalla, S.S. (2002). Imagine There’s No Country: Poverty, Inequality, and Growth in the Era of Globalization. Washington: Institute for International Economics.
  • Bhopal Group for Information and Action. (2000). “Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal, Fact Sheet.” Bhopal: Bhopal Group for Information and Action, December 2000.
  • Bowonder, B., Kasperson, J.X.,, and Kasperson, R.E. (1984). “Avoiding Future Bhopals.” Environment, Vol. 27, No. 7 (September): 6-37.
  • Broughton, E. (2005). “The Bhopal Disaster and its Aftermath: A Review.” Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source. Vol. 4,, No. 6. Available at http://www.ehjournal.net/content/4/1/6
  • Browning, J.B. (1993). “Union Carbide: Disaster at Bhopal.” In Crisis Response: Inside Stories on Managing Under Siege. Ed. Jack A. Gottschalk. Michigan: Visible Ink Press. Accessed 23 June 2013 at: http://www.bhopal.com/~/media/Files/Bhopal/browning.pdf
  • Chouhan, T.R. (1994). Bhopal: The Inside Story. Caribde Workers Speak Out on the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster. New York: The Apex Press.
  • Dhara, V. R. and Dhara, R. (2002). “Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal: A Review of Health Effects.” Archives of Environmental Health, Vo. 57, No. 5 (September/October): 404.
  • Eckerman, I. (2005). The Bhopal Saga: Causes and Consequences of the World’s Largest Industrial Disaster. Hyderabad: Universities Press.
  • Economist. (1992). “Let Them East Pollution.” Economist (London). 8 February.
  • Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth. (2005). Gas Flaring in Nigeria: A Human Rights, Environmental and Economic Monstrosity. Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth: The Netherlands.
  • Ezeonu, I. (2008). “Crimes of Globalization: Healthcare, Poverty, and the Crimes of Neoliberalism in Sub-Saharan Africa.” International Journal of Social Inquiry, Vol. 1, No. 2: 113-134.
  • Fletcher, I. C., Ono, T., and Roy, A. (2005). “Justice for Bhopal.” Radical History Review, Issue 91 (Winter): 7-12.
  • Friedrichs, D. O. (2007). “Transnational Crime and Global Criminology.” Social Justice, 34(108): 4-18. See p.5.
  • Friedrichs, D. O. and Friedrichs, J. (2002). “The World Bank and Crimes of Globalization: A Case Study.” In Social Justice Vol. 29, Nos. 1-2: 13-36.
  • Fink, Steven. (1986). Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable. New York: Amacom.
  • Giddens, A. (1999). Runaway World. London: Profile Books.
  • Groarke, L. (2000). “Can Capitalism Save Itself: Some Ruminations on the Fate of Capitalism.” In John Douglas Bishop (ed.), Ethics and Capitalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press: 196-217.
  • Hager, R. (1995). “Bhopal: Counting Disaster.” CovertAction, Summer: 38-56.
  • Held, D. (2004). Global Governance Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Helleiner, G.K. (2001). “Markets, Politics, and Globalization: Can the Global Economy Be Civilized.” Global Governance, vol. 7: 243-263.
  • Hill, R.P. and Rapp, J.M. (2008). “Globalization and Poverty: Oxymoron or New Possibilities?” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 85: 39-47
  • Howard-Hassman, R. (2010). Can Globalization Promote Human Rights? Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press.
  • (ICMR Report 2010) Indian Council of Medical Research. (2010). Health Effects of the Toxic Gas Leak from Union Carbide Methyl Isocyanate Plant in Bhopal: Technical Report on Pathology and Toxicology (1984-1992). New Delhi: Indian Council of Medical Research.
  • Izarali. M. R. (2011). “Mitigating Globalization With Basic Human Rights to Protect Basic Human Needs.” Global Studies Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4.
  • Mathur, C. and Morehouse, Ward. (2002). “Twice Poisoned Bhopal: Notes on the Continuing Aftermath of the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster.” International Labor and Working Class History, No. 62 (Fall): 69-75.
  • McMurtry, J. (1998). Unequal Freedoms: The Global Market as an Ethical System. Toronto: Garamond Press.
  • Mishra, P.K., Samarth, R.M., Pathak, N, Jain, S.K., Banerjee, S., and Maudar, K.K. (2009). “Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Review of Clinical and Experimental Findings After 25 Years.” International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, vol. 22, No. 3: 193-202.
  • Monshipouri, M., Welch, C.E., Jr. and Kennedy, E.T. (2003). “Multinational Corporations and the Ethics of Global Responsibility: Problems and Possibilities.” Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 25: 965-989.
  • Morehouse, W., and Subramaniam, M.A. (1986). The Bhopal Tragedy: What Really Happened and What it Means for American Workers and Communities at Risk. New York: Council on International and Public Affairs.
  • Pogge, T. (2002). World Poverty and Human Rights. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Payne, C.L. (2009). “Brining Home the Bacon or Not? Globalization and Government Respect for Economic and Social Rights.” Human Rights Review, Vol. 10: 413-429.
  • Pillay, S. (2006). “Absence of Justice: Lessons from the Bhopal Union Carbide Disaster for Latin America. Michigan State Journal of International Law Vol. 14: 478-519.
  • Report of the ICFTU-ICEF Mission. Author (s) not listed. Undated. Obtained from the Sambhavna Clinic, Bhopal.
  • Robertson, C. and Fadil, P.A. (1998). “Developing Corporate Codes of Ethics in Multinational Firms: Bhopal Revisited.” Journal of Managerial Issues 10.4.
  • Rogge, M.J. (2001). “Towards Transnational Corporate Accountability in the Global Economy: Challenging the Doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens in Re: Union Carbide, Alfaro, and Sequihua and Aguinda. Texas International Law Journal, Vol. 36, No. 299: 317.
  • Sarangi, S. (2002). “Crimes of Bhopal and the Global Campaign for Justice.” Social Justice, Vol. 29, No.3: 47-52.
  • Sarangi, S. (2009). “Global Industrial Disaster, National State Failure and Local Self Provision of Health Care. Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 316-318.
  • Sharma, H. R. (2009). “Globalizing Disaster, Provincializing Law: Bhopal 25 Years Later.” Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 321-324.
  • Shiva, V. (1999). “Ecological Balance in an Era of Globalization.” In Global Ethics & Environment, ed., Nicholas Low, 47-69. London: Routledge.
  • Singer, P. (2004). One World: The Ethics of Globalization. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Shrishti. (2002). Surviving Bhopal 2002, Toxic Present – Toxic Future: A Report on Human and Environmental Chemical Contamination around the Bhopal disaster site (For the Fact Finding Mission on Bhopal). New Delhi: Srishti, January.
  • Stiglitz, J. (2002). Globalization and its Discontents. London: W.W. Norton & Company.
  • Stiglitz, J. (2008). “Making Globalization Work.” The Economic and Social Review, Vol. , No. 3 (Winter): 171-190.
  • Summers, L. (1992). “Let Them Eat Pollution.” Economist (London), 8 February, p.66.
  • Trotter, R. C., Day, S.G., Love, A.E. (1989). “Bhopal, India and Union Carbide.” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 8: 439-454.
  • Trouillot, M. (2002). “The Perspective of the World: Globalization Then and Now.” In Beyond Dichotomies: Histories, Identities, Cultures, and the Challenge of Globalization, ed., M. Elisabeth Mudimbe-boyi. Pp.3-20. New York: State University of New York.
  • www.unioncarbide.com
  • Walters, R. (2009). “Bhopal, Corporate Crime and Harms of the Powerful. Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 324-327.
  • Zavestoski, S. (2009). “The Struggle for Justice in Bhopal: A New/Old Breed of Old Transnational Social Movement.” Global Social Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3: 383-407.
There are 55 citations in total.

Details

Other ID JA22FH96PV
Journal Section Articles
Authors

M. Raymond Izarali This is me

Publication Date May 30, 2016
Submission Date May 30, 2016
Published in Issue Year 2013 Volume: 6 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Izarali, M. R. (2016). Globalization and the Bhopal Disaster: A Criminogenic Inquiry. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 6(1), 91-112.

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