Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with an introduction of the global context in which the access conflict arose and led to a consolidated informal norm, positing universal access to essential medicines as a subsidiary norm to the right to health. It discusses the relationship between the access to medicines norm and the human rights system in general. The UN human rights system is generally based on the two international covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and a number of human rights conventions on specific aspects. The book addresses the question of the foundations of legitimacy and accountability in global governance, and the implications for the appraisal of global democracy. It summarizes our findings about the limits of global change through informal norms, and the arguments for turning back to the possibility of changes in formal international law.