Institution Building across Borders

 

Civil Society Actors and the Institutionalization of Labor Standards

Sabrina Zajak (Doctoral project)

The growth of multinational corporations and the increasing importance of their international supply chains have provoked topical debates on the role of labor standards in a global economy. The issue is not altogether new, however. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the International Labour Organisation has tried to use international agreements to institutionalize such labor standards as the freedom of coalition in world trade. These intergovernmental approaches have fallen short of their goals. The resulting regulatory vacuum has been addressed by civil society advocacy groups (NGOs, grassroots and unions) who target individual multinational companies with campaigns for fair labor standards resulting in new forms of private labor regulation during the last decade. While the literature sees external pressure as cause of this development, the role of civil society actors is not clear. The dissertation project will therefore investigate when and how conflicts between civil society actors and multinational corporations induce the latter to comply with private regulation. Comparing cases with different regulatory outcomes, the project will identify preconditions for a transition from soft to hard forms of regulation. Project duration: October 2007 to September 2010.

Literature:

Sabrina Zajak (2009): Nationale und transnationale Auseinandersetzungen um Arbeitsbedingungen in globalen Zulieferketten. MPIfG Research Group Institution Building across Borders". Report from current research projects. Cologne: Max-Planck-Institut for the study of societies. PDF

Sabrina Zajak (2007): Zivilgesellschaftliche Einflussnahme auf transnationale Unternehmen? Eine Analyse der Wirkung unternehmenskritischer Kampagnen am Beispiel der Anti-Wal-Mart Kampagne in den USA. Diplomarbeit im Studiengang Sozialwissenschaften an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Link to PDF