Sisyphus at Work: On the Efforts to Achieve a Fair, Internationally Recognised Labour, and Social Order

Abstract

To assess the prevailing situation, this paper will first outline the historical impulses leading to the establishment of a "global sectoral order" in the field of labour and social standards, and present its institutional and international legal foundations, in particular the mandate of the International Labour Organization (ILO) (1). The current ILO Agenda for Decent Work Worldwide (2) and the problems encountered in the implementation of international labour and social standards laid down in the Agenda (3) will then be examined against the background of general trends and specific socio-economic contexts. This will be followed by a discussion of the possibilities and limitations of influencing transnational companies as dominant global economic actors (4). Different approaches in terms of state will-formation and capacity building will then be discussed with a view to overcoming the divide between norms and actual policies in the field of international labour and social standards (5). The paper will conclude with a few summary reflections (6).