Chapter 1 | Page 42 respect, protect and fulfil these rights within many areas of State capacity, especially within the economic, political and policy domains, through an activist approach. This line of inquiry will contribute to the empowerment of human rights activists and advocates to demand government action and accountability when and where such action is deemed necessary for the enjoyment of these rights. 1.6 THESIS STRUCTURE This thesis is divided into nine chapters, including this introduction and a concluding chapter. This chapter has presented the background, rationale, objectives and methodology. The seven substantive chapters are grouped into three parts. Part I (Chapters 2 and 3) provides a detailed account of the academic perspectives relevant to the international legal obligations derived from the ICESCR and a comprehensive literature review on the concept of ‘maximum available resources’. Chapter 2 begins with an overview of the obligations on States derived from the ICESCR. Against this background, the chapter outlines the language and character of human rights obligations derived from the ICESCR and other international human rights instruments and locates the ‘resources’ requirements for the realisation of these rights. Chapter 3 reviews the concept of ‘maximum available resources’ in detail, drawing on existing human rights literature and relevant information from the drafting history of the Covenant. A cross-disciplinary conceptual model for ‘maximum available resources’ in the context of ESC rights is then developed to provide the foundation for subsequent arguments and analyses. Part II (Chapters 4, 5 and 6) elaborates on the cross-disciplinary approach to the obligation to use ‘maximum available resources’ presented in Chapter 3, and addresses policy approaches to resource maximisation. Chapter 4 explores the macroeconomic dimensions of maximising domestic financial resources, with particular emphasis on government revenue and expenditure,