This thesis examines the use of the right to health as a legal tool for ensuring access to better health care in Africa and as a means of dealing with threats to human health on the continent. The thesis critically assesses some of the key ways in which the right to health has been used at the local, regional and global levels as part of efforts to improve health on the continent. The aim of the thesis is to assess the utility of the right to health in Africa particularly in light of challenges posed by the power of international economic actors, local and international structural constraints and the paradoxical position of the state as both a potential violator and protector of the right. / As this thesis shows, human rights are a powerful and inspirational language for people struggling against degradation, domination and deprivation for the reason that they give expression to the notion that human dignity, equality and freedom ought to be respected and protected. They are also a tool for resisting oppressive power, in addition to providing legitimacy for the redistribution of material resources necessary to meet basic human needs and to alleviate human suffering. The thesis further shows that these benefits of human rights have been enhanced through legalisation, a process through which human rights have been translated from moral or natural rights into legal rights capable of being enforced through judicial and quasi-judicial processes. But legalisation has its drawbacks, as the thesis demonstrates. / The thesis argues that despite the significant advances that have been made, particularly in the last fifteen years, in the elaboration and clarification of the content and justiciability of the right to health, its limitations as a legal right are particularly evident in light of a number of factors. These include the power of international economic actors, local and international structural constraints and the problematic potential of the state as both a protector and violator of the right to health. By examining concrete instances in which efforts have been made to use the right to health in the context of some or of all these factors, the thesis demonstrates the limits and potential of the right as a legal right. The thesis thus argues that a proper account of the utility of the right to health should not overemphasise the legalisation of the right but must include an analysis of the power relations and structural constraints at play at both the international and local levels, which jeopardise good health in Africa in the first place. It is further argued that such an account offers a better understanding of how the moral, legal and political forms of the right to health might be strategically and productively combined in the struggle for better health in Africa.

O estudo se propõe a investigar as particularidades e especificidades dos mecanismos de governança global dos influxos investimentos diretos externos (IDE). Se, por um lado, não existe atualmente (à exemplo do comércio internacional) uma grande organização multilateral que garanta a governança dos influxos na relação entre os países (e, especialmente, entre entes estatais e particulares); por outro, prevalece a bilateralidade como esfera máxima da supranacionalidade para a regulação dos IDEs. Como especificidade dos IDEs, é característica a instalação do capital produtivo estrangeiro em um território nacional e a consequente sujeição à soberania de um ente estatal. Assim, configura-se, então, um modelo de governança sui generis em que coexistem uma governança com governo (no plano nacional) e uma governança sem governo (no plano supranacional). A principal hipótese de pesquisa é que as instituições nacionais e instituições supranacionais conjugam-se em uma relação de complementariedade e interação para configurar a estrutura da governança global dos influxos de IDEs. Para os testes empíricos, são estimados modelos interativos através de métodos econométricos longitudinais. Ao fim, conclui-se, com base em evidências robustas, que esse parece ser o mecanismo que configura essa peculiar forma de governança. / This research aims to investigate particularities and specificities of the global governance of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. If, on the one hand, a large multilateral organization, does not currently exist for FDIs (such as the existence of the WTO for international trade); on the other hand, bilateralism prevails as the ultimate sphere of supranationality for the regulation of FDIs in the international arena. As a particularity of FDIs, foreign productive capital typically crosses over into a national territory and thus foreign investors must undergo the sovereign power of such state entity and abide by its decisions. Therefore, a sui generis model of global governance emerges in which there coexists a governance with government (at the national level) and a governance without government (at the supranational level). The main research hypothesis is that national and supranational institutions conjugate themselves in an intricate relationship of complementarity and interaction in order to configure such global governance structure of FDI inflows. For the empirical tests, interactive models are estimated through longitudinal econometric methods. Finally, based upon robust evidence, it is concluded that this seems to be the mechanism that engenders this peculiar form of governance.

O estudo se propõe a investigar as particularidades e especificidades dos mecanismos de governança global dos influxos investimentos diretos externos (IDE). Se, por um lado, não existe atualmente (à exemplo do comércio internacional) uma grande organização multilateral que garanta a governança dos influxos na relação entre os países (e, especialmente, entre entes estatais e particulares); por outro, prevalece a bilateralidade como esfera máxima da supranacionalidade para a regulação dos IDEs. Como especificidade dos IDEs, é característica a instalação do capital produtivo estrangeiro em um território nacional e a consequente sujeição à soberania de um ente estatal. Assim, configura-se, então, um modelo de governança sui generis em que coexistem uma governança com governo (no plano nacional) e uma governança sem governo (no plano supranacional). A principal hipótese de pesquisa é que as instituições nacionais e instituições supranacionais conjugam-se em uma relação de complementariedade e interação para configurar a estrutura da governança global dos influxos de IDEs. Para os testes empíricos, são estimados modelos interativos através de métodos econométricos longitudinais. Ao fim, conclui-se, com base em evidências robustas, que esse parece ser o mecanismo que configura essa peculiar forma de governança. / This research aims to investigate particularities and specificities of the global governance of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. If, on the one hand, a large multilateral organization, does not currently exist for FDIs (such as the existence of the WTO for international trade); on the other hand, bilateralism prevails as the ultimate sphere of supranationality for the regulation of FDIs in the international arena. As a particularity of FDIs, foreign productive capital typically crosses over into a national territory and thus foreign investors must undergo the sovereign power of such state entity and abide by its decisions. Therefore, a sui generis model of global governance emerges in which there coexists a governance with government (at the national level) and a governance without government (at the supranational level). The main research hypothesis is that national and supranational institutions conjugate themselves in an intricate relationship of complementarity and interaction in order to configure such global governance structure of FDI inflows. For the empirical tests, interactive models are estimated through longitudinal econometric methods. Finally, based upon robust evidence, it is concluded that this seems to be the mechanism that engenders this peculiar form of governance.