New governance of labour rights: the perspective of Cambodian garment workers’ struggles

Anna Salmivaara

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Globalization has implied the transfer of industrial work to countries of the Global South, where labour rights are seldom effectively protected by legal frameworks. New forms of governance that go beyond state-centred legal regulation are presented as an alternative to fill in governance gaps'. This paper analyses new governance' from the perspective of Cambodian garment workers and labour movements' struggles. Drawing on the literature on governance and private regulation and research data from Cambodia, it argues that a technocratic approach makes governance initiatives ignore the economic conflict between labour and capital but also the possible political conflict between labour and government. By ignoring trade union rights, power-blind initiatives might end up weakening both the labour movement and democratic accountability, instead of complementing state's regulatory roles. This might serve the overlapping interests of the powerful actors both in Cambodia and internationally.
Original languageEnglish
JournalGlobalizations
Volume15
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)329-346
Number of pages18
ISSN1474-7731
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Fields of Science

  • 517 Political science
  • 5203 Global Development Studies

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