Abstracts Category : Other

Trade, labour and sustainable development: an integrated perspective

by Zobaida Khan

Some contemporary challenges for global trade regulation and labour governance arise from the barriers between questions of law and social justice, and development policy and distributional issues. This thesis attempts to address some of these regulatory or governance challenges by exploring the interactions between sustainable development (SD), trade regulation, and social or distributive justice. Borrowing from multiple disciplines, i.e. law, international relations, and development economy, and focusing on the problems of low-income countries, this thesis examines the potential and importance of a broad ideational objective in introducing transformative changes in different regulatory or governance mechanisms. This thesis does not discuss ways to link trade regulation or labour governance with SD; rather here the possibilities of operationalizing SD, within the global trade regulatory site or transnational governance mechanisms, are explored from a capability perspective. It is argued that a capability-based understanding can resituate some questions on trade-SD interaction and introduce important behavioural changes in the functioning of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Yet, ongoing operationalization of capability-based SD requires effective market complementary interventions from governance mechanisms operating at different spaces and with diverse actors. Certain emerging transnational governance mechanisms, which connect broader social or distributional issues such as labour governance with trade opening or economic cooperation, attempt to provide crucial market complementary interventions. Taking examples from the recent transnational safety initiatives for Bangladeshi garment workers and relying on a broad conceptualization of the social or distributional issues, it is argued that attention to capability enhancement produces a much more compelling form of labour governance mechanism at these hybrid sites. With a focus on capability-based SD, a model of transformative linkage is proposed for effective labour governance. The model demands that fundamental and redistributive rights of labour are interconnected and appropriate labour governance requires a stronger form of corporate responsibility. Analyzing the interaction of diverse rules, governance processes and mechanisms, with the demands of marginalized forces the global hegemony of capital is juxtaposed with available options and possible alternatives. Certains dfis contemporains aux rgles du commerce international et de la gouvernance du travail dcoulent des barrires entre les questions de droit et de justice sociale et les politiques de dveloppement et les problmes de distribution. La thse tente de rpondre certains de ces dfis en matire de rglementation ou de gouvernance en explorant les interactions entre les rgles du dveloppement durable (DD), du commerce ou de l'conomie et la justice sociale ou distributive. Empruntant de multiples disciplines, i.e. les relations internationales, conomie de dveloppement et le droit, et seAdvisors/Committee Members: Adelle Blackett (Supervisor).