This comprehensive Handbook explores the complex and volatile debate over globalisation and labour standards. It offers key insights into the impact of globalisation on workers, the obligations of corporations and international legal bodies in protecting workers’ rights and maximising the opportunities offered by international trade and investment.
Multidisciplinary contributions illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of globalisation for labour standards, demonstrating the limitations of recent initiatives to improve working conditions. The chapters pay close attention to the buying practices of multinational corporations at the top of global value chains, the priorities of which too often diverge from the codes of corporate social responsibility, as well as the inadequate actions of national governments in enforcing labour standards, including through trade agreements and sanctions.
Offering an impressive overview of the key actors in the protection of workers’ rights, the Handbook provides an essential reference point and research agenda for scholars and researchers of global economics and labour policy, highlighting crucial gaps in the field that are in need of further study. Its practical, empirical insights will also benefit practitioners and policy-makers working in human rights and labour advocacy, as well as trade specialists and political and economic commentators.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘In this well-structured Handbook, Elliott has masterfully pulled together case studies and interdisciplinary reflections on globalisation and labour issues from the perspectives of business, economics, labour relations, international law, political science and sociology. The resulting volume provides a better understanding of the functioning of global value chains and the roles of public and private actors. Calling for more empirical work, the book points to the policy changes needed to arrive at improved working conditions worldwide.’ — Anne Trebilcock, Georg-August University, Germany, and former ILO Legal Adviser
‘This Handbook on Globalisation and Labour Standards is novel, engaging and manages to offer a coherent approach to a controversial topic, while also presenting diverse perspectives. It begins by identifying contemporary challenges to international labour standards in the context of globalisation, and then proceeds to analyse public, private and multi-stakeholder initiatives designed to address these. In this way, the editor, Kimberly Ann Elliott, has collated an exciting array of essays. The contributions come from leading experts, with each chapter offering original observations on a key issue. In short, this Handbook provides an invaluable resource for policy-making, teaching and further research in a field of study which is of ever-increasing importance.’ — Tonia Novitz, University of Bristol, UK
About the Author
Edited by Kimberly Ann Elliott, Nonresident Fellow, Center for Global Development and Visiting Scholar, Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University, US
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