Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migran... more Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migrant labour, and have long been associated with exploitative practices. More recently, hostels have come under scrutiny because of accusations that they are used to restrict workers' freedom in ways that are tantamount to modern slavery. Drawing on a qualitative study of a garment hub in South India where such claims have frequently arisen, we explore the conditions of freedom and unfreedom in worker hostels and how suppliers who run such hostels respond to competing expectations about worker freedom. Our findings show that hostels perform three interrelated functions: restriction, protection, and liberation, which together constitute a complex mix of freedom and unfreedom for migrant women workers that we term hybrid (un)freedom.
Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not.
Not only do supply chain ... more Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not. Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of broader dynamics of work and employment, since low-waged workers tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short periods of time. Third, on-the-ground studies of the effectiveness of buyer-centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for business scholars to make a contribution.
Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, th... more Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, the deepening and extension of capitalism appears to be heightening the prevalence of unfree labour. By most accounts, the forms of exploitation encapsulated within unfree labour-including those typically referred to as forced labour, human trafficking and modern slavery-are proliferating in the global economy, including in advanced capitalist societies. We evaluate these developments in light of the relationship between capitalism and unfree labour through the prism of Marxism, revealing a deep-seated divide between a neo-Smithian reading, according to which capitalism and unfree labour are incompatible, and a more faithful Marxist tradition that views forced labour as one possible form of labour control and exploitation under capitalism. Building on this second tradition, we argue that IPE scholars who seek to shed light into the contemporary and historic dynamics of unfree labour must transcend the rigid theoretical binaries that have long characterised Marxist debates on capitalism and unfree labour.
In the face of pressure from civil society, unions and consumers to improve
labour standards for ... more In the face of pressure from civil society, unions and consumers to improve labour standards for the workers producing their goods, companies at the helm of global garment supply chains have made commitments to pay living wages within their supply chains. Harnessing insights from the critical political economy literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), we investigate the actions of garment companies to meet these commitments. We do so through analysis of original data from a survey of 20 leading garment companies, which we co-developed in 2018– 2019, as well as publicly available information for garment companies and relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives. Based on this data, we argue there is very little evidence to suggest companies have made meaningful progress towards achieving commitments to pay living wages in their supply chains, challenging widespread assumptions about CSR’s benefits to workers. We argue that in the face of mounting evidence of CSR ineffectiveness, including our own, there is a need for new political economy research into the benefits that companies derive from CSR commitments that deflect attention from their core business models and the uneven value distribution within global supply chains.
Despite growing attention from companies and regulators looking to eradicate modern slavery, we k... more Despite growing attention from companies and regulators looking to eradicate modern slavery, we know little about how slavery works from a business perspective. We address this gap by empirically examining innovations in the business models of modern slavery, focusing on how the business models of slavery in advanced economies have evolved since slavery was legally abolished. While continuities exist, novel business models have emerged based on new actors, activities, and linkages. We categorize these as four innovative models per actors involved (producer/intermediary) and how value is created and captured (revenue generation/cost reduction), and discuss implications for research, policy, and practice.
“Modern slavery,” a term used to describe severe forms of labor exploitation, is beginning to spa... more “Modern slavery,” a term used to describe severe forms of labor exploitation, is beginning to spark growing interest within business and society research. As a novel phenomenon, it offers potential for innovative theoretical and empirical pathways to a range of business and management research questions. And yet, development into what we might call a “field” of modern slavery research in business and management remains significantly, and disappointingly, underdeveloped. To explore this, we elaborate on the developments to date, the potential drawbacks, and the possible future deviations that might evolve within six subdisciplinary areas of business and management. We also examine the value that nonmanagement disciplines can bring to research on modern slavery and business, examining the connections, critiques, and catalysts evident in research from political science, law, and history. These, we suggest, offer significant potential for building toward a more substantial subfield of research.
A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of con... more A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of contemporary unfree labour. In this article, we argue that this literature could be strengthened by a stronger conceptualization of, and more systematic attention towards, the role of national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated.
Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, th... more Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, the deepening and extension of capitalism appear to be heightening the prevalence of unfree labor. By most accounts, the forms of exploitation encapsulated within unfree labor – including those typically referred to as forced labor, human trafficking and modern slavery – are proliferating in the global economy, including in advanced capitalist societies. We evaluate these developments in light of the relationship between capitalism and unfree labor through the prism of Marxism, revealing a deep-seated divide between a neo-Smithian reading, according to which capitalism and unfree labor are incompatible, and a more faithful Marxist tradition that views forced labor as one possible form of labor control and exploitation under capitalism. Building on this second tradition, we argue that international political economy scholars who seek to shed light into the contemporary and historic dynamics of unfree labor must transcend the rigid theoretical binaries that have long characterized Marxist debates on capitalism and unfree labor.
This paper investigates the gendered patterns and dynamics of labour exploitation and forced labo... more This paper investigates the gendered patterns and dynamics of labour exploitation and forced labour in the cocoa supply chain. The empirical basis of our analysis is an original primary dataset produced through the Global Business of Forced Labour project, which includes data gathered in Ghana in 2016-2017, comprising 60 in-depth interviews and a survey of 497 cocoa workers across 74 cocoa communities from Ghana's two largest cocoa-producing regions, the Western and Ashanti Regions. Drawing on this dataset, we show that prevailing business models within the Ghanaian cocoa industry rely on and reinforce labour exploitation and unequal gender power relations. Given that the links between forced labour and gender remain poorly understood, we analyse the factors that render women workers disproportionately vulnerable to severe labour exploitation, underscoring the role of unequal family relations, responsibility for reproductive labour, and social property relations in creating vulnerability to exploitation.
A growing body of scholarship analyzes the emergence and resilience of forced labor in developing... more A growing body of scholarship analyzes the emergence and resilience of forced labor in developing countries within global value chains. However, little is known about how forced labor arises within domestic supply chains concentrated within national borders, producing products for domestic consumption. We conduct one of the first studies of forced labor in domestic supply chains, through a cross-industry comparison of the regulatory gaps surrounding forced labor in the United Kingdom. We find that understanding the dynamics of forced labor in domestic supply chains requires us to conceptually modify the global value chain framework to understand similarities and differences across these contexts. We conclude that addressing the governance gaps that surround forced labor will require scholars and policymakers to carefully refine their thinking about how we might design operative governance that effectively engages with local variation.
Over the past two decades multinational corporations have been expanding ‘ethical’ audit programs... more Over the past two decades multinational corporations have been expanding ‘ethical’ audit programs with the stated aim of reducing the risk of sourcing from suppliers with poor practices. A wave of government regulation—such as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2012) and the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015)—has enhanced the legitimacy of auditing as a tool to govern labor and environmental standards in global supply chains, backed by a broad range of civil society actors championing audits as a way of promoting corporate accountability. The growing adoption of auditing as a governance tool is a puzzling trend, given two decades of evidence that audit programs generally fail to detect or correct labor and environmental problems in global supply chains. Drawing on original field research, this article shows that in spite of its growing legitimacy and traction among government and civil society actors, the audit regime continues to respond to and protect industry commercial interests. Conceptually, the article challenges prevailing characterizations of the audit regime as a technical, neutral, and benign tool of supply chain governance, and highlights its embeddedness in struggles over the legitimacy and effectiveness of the industry-led privatization of global governance.
The home states of multinational enterprises have in recent years sought to use public regulation... more The home states of multinational enterprises have in recent years sought to use public regulation to fill the gaps left by the absence of a binding labour standards framework in international law. This article examines recent home state initiatives to address forced labour, human trafficking, and slavery in global supply chains, and their interactions with private governance initiatives. Focusing on a case study of the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act and 2010 UK Bribery Act, we analyse two distinct legislative approaches that policy makers have used to promote corporate accountability within global supply chains and explore the varied impacts that these approaches have on corporate behaviour. Empirically, we analyse codes of conduct, annual CSR reports, and supplier terms and conditions for 25 FTSE 100 companies to shed light into the impact of the legislation on corporate behaviour. We find that legislation that creates criminal corporate liability appears to spur deeper changes to corporate strategy, and argue that in the case of the Modern Slavery Act, the triumph of voluntary reporting over more stringent public labour standards seems to have undermined the effectiveness of recent governance initiatives to address forced labour in global supply chains.
This article assesses carceral institutions and the social relations surrounding them in the Unit... more This article assesses carceral institutions and the social relations surrounding them in the United States in terms of their constituent role in the functioning and reproduction of capitalism in the neoliberal period. Highlighting the interplay between the state’s exertion of more directly coercive forms of power and market relations of confinement, the article develops the concept of carcerality to capture the matrix of carceral relations that underpin the market by shaping individual and collective action and agency. Documenting key trends associated with prisons, debt prisons, and carceral relations surrounding the household, the article challenges critical political economy’s tendency to reproduce liberal representations of the market wherein capitalism appears to be reproduced through people’s voluntary involvement in an autonomous marketplace rather than through the coercive apparatuses and social relations of domination that the market requires to recreate its neutral and natural appearance.
Departing from liberal accounts that understand ‘modern-day slavery’ and unfree labour in isolati... more Departing from liberal accounts that understand ‘modern-day slavery’ and unfree labour in isolation from markets and shifting global networks of production and reproduction, this article highlights the need to investigate how far and in what ways the deepening and extension of neoliberal capitalism has given rise to the contemporary spectrum of unfree labour relations. Building on feminist political economy frameworks, the article argues that the neoliberal resurgence of unfree labour has been rooted in fundamental shifts in power, production and social reproduction whereby capital's security has increasingly come to rely upon the deepening of labour market insecurity for certain sections of the population. It highlights the need to understand unfree labour within the context of broader relations of inequality and hierarchical social relations, particularly along the lines of race, gender and citizenship, arguing that broader and more systemic evaluations of labour and unfreedom are essential to understanding the variegated power relations that underpin the most severe forms of exploitation.
Conjuring up images of nineteenth-century London à la Charles Dickens, the Wall Street Journal re... more Conjuring up images of nineteenth-century London à la Charles Dickens, the Wall Street Journal recently featured an article entitled “Welcome to Debtors' Prison, 2011 Edition.” The Journal was not using the term debtors' prison as a figure of speech but, rather, was documenting a recent spike in the use of arrest warrants by debt collectors to prosecute borrowers who cannot or will not repay small amounts of money. Indeed, over the past several years, and particularly following the most recent economic crisis from which the United States and the global economy have still not fully recovered, debt-buying firms have increasingly relied upon the state's legal system as a means of compelling individuals behind on their credit card payments, auto loans, and other bills to meet their obligations. In the past year alone, judges have signed off on more than 5,000 arrest warrants, incarcerating Americans for debts as small as $250.
The 2011 Historical Materialism Conference in London saw the launch of a Marxist Feminist set of ... more The 2011 Historical Materialism Conference in London saw the launch of a Marxist Feminist set of panels. This issue is inspired by the success of those panels, and the remarkably sustained interest in reviving and moving beyond older debates and discussions. The special issue’s focus, social-reproduction feminism, reflects and contextualises the ongoing work and engagement with that thematic that has threaded through the conferences in the 2010s. This Introduction provides a summary overview of the social-reproduction feminism framework, situating it within Marxist-Feminist thinking and politics more generally, and calls on readers to consider its promise and potential as an historical-materialist approach to understanding capitalist social relations in terms of an integrated totality.
Over the last decade, the norm of corporate accountability for labour standards in global supply ... more Over the last decade, the norm of corporate accountability for labour standards in global supply chains has become increasingly prominent within the transnational governance arena. As global governance initiatives to spur due diligence for labour standards and combat exploitation in global supply chains— especially its most severe forms frequently described as modern slavery— have proliferated, societal coalitions have pressured states to pass domestic legislation to the same effect. In this paper, we examine the regulatory processes that spurred the passage of one piece of anti-slavery legislation, the United Kingdom’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. Our findings corroborate a number of established expectations regarding business opposition towards new legislation to raise public labour standards, but also provide a clearer picture of the mechanisms through which industry actors impact policymaking processes. Paradoxically, such mechanisms include business actors’ championing of weak regulatory initiatives, CSR activity, and partnering with civil society organizations. Understanding industry actors’ use of these strategies improves our understanding of how transnational norms of corporate accountability and anti-slavery are being contested and shaped at domestic scales.
This brief article is meant as a primer on the current state of the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act, but the lessons here may also be applicable to the multitude of transparency regulations that have become the go-to form of corporate governance worldwide. In line with the empirical evidence to date, we argue that this type of transparency regulation – in its contemporary incarnation – is too weak a tool to bring about the changes necessary to eradicate labour abuse in global supply chains. At present, this type of regulation does more to serve large corporate interests than it does to address the suffering of vulnerable workers employed along global supply chains. But, it does not need to stay this way. If the goal is to eradicate worker exploitation, then initiatives like the Modern Slavery Act could be strengthened so they were more fit for purpose. We offer a number of straightforward suggestions to increase the effectiveness of the Act in steering corporate responsibility for forced labour in supply chains.
This article assesses the social consequences of efforts by multinational corporations to capture... more This article assesses the social consequences of efforts by multinational corporations to capture business value through recycling, reusing materials and reducing waste. Synthesising evidence from the global environmental justice and feminist and international political economy (IPE) literatures, it analyses the changing social property relations of global recycling chains. The authors argue that, although recycling more would seem to make good ecological sense, corporate programmes can rely on and further ingrain social patterns of harm and exploitation, particularly for the burgeoning labour force that depends on recyclables for subsistence living. Turning the waste stream into a profit stream also relies on prison labour in some places, such as in the United States where the federal government operates one of the country's largest electronics recycling programmes. The ongoing corporatisation of recycling, the authors argue further, is devaluing already marginalised populations within the global economy. Highlighting the need to account for the dynamism between social and environmental change within IPE scholarship, the article concludes by underlining the ways in which ‘green commerce’ programmes can shift capital's contradictions from nature onto labour.
Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migran... more Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migrant labour, and have long been associated with exploitative practices. More recently, hostels have come under scrutiny because of accusations that they are used to restrict workers' freedom in ways that are tantamount to modern slavery. Drawing on a qualitative study of a garment hub in South India where such claims have frequently arisen, we explore the conditions of freedom and unfreedom in worker hostels and how suppliers who run such hostels respond to competing expectations about worker freedom. Our findings show that hostels perform three interrelated functions: restriction, protection, and liberation, which together constitute a complex mix of freedom and unfreedom for migrant women workers that we term hybrid (un)freedom.
Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not.
Not only do supply chain ... more Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not. Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of broader dynamics of work and employment, since low-waged workers tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short periods of time. Third, on-the-ground studies of the effectiveness of buyer-centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for business scholars to make a contribution.
Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, th... more Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, the deepening and extension of capitalism appears to be heightening the prevalence of unfree labour. By most accounts, the forms of exploitation encapsulated within unfree labour-including those typically referred to as forced labour, human trafficking and modern slavery-are proliferating in the global economy, including in advanced capitalist societies. We evaluate these developments in light of the relationship between capitalism and unfree labour through the prism of Marxism, revealing a deep-seated divide between a neo-Smithian reading, according to which capitalism and unfree labour are incompatible, and a more faithful Marxist tradition that views forced labour as one possible form of labour control and exploitation under capitalism. Building on this second tradition, we argue that IPE scholars who seek to shed light into the contemporary and historic dynamics of unfree labour must transcend the rigid theoretical binaries that have long characterised Marxist debates on capitalism and unfree labour.
In the face of pressure from civil society, unions and consumers to improve
labour standards for ... more In the face of pressure from civil society, unions and consumers to improve labour standards for the workers producing their goods, companies at the helm of global garment supply chains have made commitments to pay living wages within their supply chains. Harnessing insights from the critical political economy literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), we investigate the actions of garment companies to meet these commitments. We do so through analysis of original data from a survey of 20 leading garment companies, which we co-developed in 2018– 2019, as well as publicly available information for garment companies and relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives. Based on this data, we argue there is very little evidence to suggest companies have made meaningful progress towards achieving commitments to pay living wages in their supply chains, challenging widespread assumptions about CSR’s benefits to workers. We argue that in the face of mounting evidence of CSR ineffectiveness, including our own, there is a need for new political economy research into the benefits that companies derive from CSR commitments that deflect attention from their core business models and the uneven value distribution within global supply chains.
Despite growing attention from companies and regulators looking to eradicate modern slavery, we k... more Despite growing attention from companies and regulators looking to eradicate modern slavery, we know little about how slavery works from a business perspective. We address this gap by empirically examining innovations in the business models of modern slavery, focusing on how the business models of slavery in advanced economies have evolved since slavery was legally abolished. While continuities exist, novel business models have emerged based on new actors, activities, and linkages. We categorize these as four innovative models per actors involved (producer/intermediary) and how value is created and captured (revenue generation/cost reduction), and discuss implications for research, policy, and practice.
“Modern slavery,” a term used to describe severe forms of labor exploitation, is beginning to spa... more “Modern slavery,” a term used to describe severe forms of labor exploitation, is beginning to spark growing interest within business and society research. As a novel phenomenon, it offers potential for innovative theoretical and empirical pathways to a range of business and management research questions. And yet, development into what we might call a “field” of modern slavery research in business and management remains significantly, and disappointingly, underdeveloped. To explore this, we elaborate on the developments to date, the potential drawbacks, and the possible future deviations that might evolve within six subdisciplinary areas of business and management. We also examine the value that nonmanagement disciplines can bring to research on modern slavery and business, examining the connections, critiques, and catalysts evident in research from political science, law, and history. These, we suggest, offer significant potential for building toward a more substantial subfield of research.
A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of con... more A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of contemporary unfree labour. In this article, we argue that this literature could be strengthened by a stronger conceptualization of, and more systematic attention towards, the role of national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated.
Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, th... more Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, the deepening and extension of capitalism appear to be heightening the prevalence of unfree labor. By most accounts, the forms of exploitation encapsulated within unfree labor – including those typically referred to as forced labor, human trafficking and modern slavery – are proliferating in the global economy, including in advanced capitalist societies. We evaluate these developments in light of the relationship between capitalism and unfree labor through the prism of Marxism, revealing a deep-seated divide between a neo-Smithian reading, according to which capitalism and unfree labor are incompatible, and a more faithful Marxist tradition that views forced labor as one possible form of labor control and exploitation under capitalism. Building on this second tradition, we argue that international political economy scholars who seek to shed light into the contemporary and historic dynamics of unfree labor must transcend the rigid theoretical binaries that have long characterized Marxist debates on capitalism and unfree labor.
This paper investigates the gendered patterns and dynamics of labour exploitation and forced labo... more This paper investigates the gendered patterns and dynamics of labour exploitation and forced labour in the cocoa supply chain. The empirical basis of our analysis is an original primary dataset produced through the Global Business of Forced Labour project, which includes data gathered in Ghana in 2016-2017, comprising 60 in-depth interviews and a survey of 497 cocoa workers across 74 cocoa communities from Ghana's two largest cocoa-producing regions, the Western and Ashanti Regions. Drawing on this dataset, we show that prevailing business models within the Ghanaian cocoa industry rely on and reinforce labour exploitation and unequal gender power relations. Given that the links between forced labour and gender remain poorly understood, we analyse the factors that render women workers disproportionately vulnerable to severe labour exploitation, underscoring the role of unequal family relations, responsibility for reproductive labour, and social property relations in creating vulnerability to exploitation.
A growing body of scholarship analyzes the emergence and resilience of forced labor in developing... more A growing body of scholarship analyzes the emergence and resilience of forced labor in developing countries within global value chains. However, little is known about how forced labor arises within domestic supply chains concentrated within national borders, producing products for domestic consumption. We conduct one of the first studies of forced labor in domestic supply chains, through a cross-industry comparison of the regulatory gaps surrounding forced labor in the United Kingdom. We find that understanding the dynamics of forced labor in domestic supply chains requires us to conceptually modify the global value chain framework to understand similarities and differences across these contexts. We conclude that addressing the governance gaps that surround forced labor will require scholars and policymakers to carefully refine their thinking about how we might design operative governance that effectively engages with local variation.
Over the past two decades multinational corporations have been expanding ‘ethical’ audit programs... more Over the past two decades multinational corporations have been expanding ‘ethical’ audit programs with the stated aim of reducing the risk of sourcing from suppliers with poor practices. A wave of government regulation—such as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2012) and the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015)—has enhanced the legitimacy of auditing as a tool to govern labor and environmental standards in global supply chains, backed by a broad range of civil society actors championing audits as a way of promoting corporate accountability. The growing adoption of auditing as a governance tool is a puzzling trend, given two decades of evidence that audit programs generally fail to detect or correct labor and environmental problems in global supply chains. Drawing on original field research, this article shows that in spite of its growing legitimacy and traction among government and civil society actors, the audit regime continues to respond to and protect industry commercial interests. Conceptually, the article challenges prevailing characterizations of the audit regime as a technical, neutral, and benign tool of supply chain governance, and highlights its embeddedness in struggles over the legitimacy and effectiveness of the industry-led privatization of global governance.
The home states of multinational enterprises have in recent years sought to use public regulation... more The home states of multinational enterprises have in recent years sought to use public regulation to fill the gaps left by the absence of a binding labour standards framework in international law. This article examines recent home state initiatives to address forced labour, human trafficking, and slavery in global supply chains, and their interactions with private governance initiatives. Focusing on a case study of the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act and 2010 UK Bribery Act, we analyse two distinct legislative approaches that policy makers have used to promote corporate accountability within global supply chains and explore the varied impacts that these approaches have on corporate behaviour. Empirically, we analyse codes of conduct, annual CSR reports, and supplier terms and conditions for 25 FTSE 100 companies to shed light into the impact of the legislation on corporate behaviour. We find that legislation that creates criminal corporate liability appears to spur deeper changes to corporate strategy, and argue that in the case of the Modern Slavery Act, the triumph of voluntary reporting over more stringent public labour standards seems to have undermined the effectiveness of recent governance initiatives to address forced labour in global supply chains.
This article assesses carceral institutions and the social relations surrounding them in the Unit... more This article assesses carceral institutions and the social relations surrounding them in the United States in terms of their constituent role in the functioning and reproduction of capitalism in the neoliberal period. Highlighting the interplay between the state’s exertion of more directly coercive forms of power and market relations of confinement, the article develops the concept of carcerality to capture the matrix of carceral relations that underpin the market by shaping individual and collective action and agency. Documenting key trends associated with prisons, debt prisons, and carceral relations surrounding the household, the article challenges critical political economy’s tendency to reproduce liberal representations of the market wherein capitalism appears to be reproduced through people’s voluntary involvement in an autonomous marketplace rather than through the coercive apparatuses and social relations of domination that the market requires to recreate its neutral and natural appearance.
Departing from liberal accounts that understand ‘modern-day slavery’ and unfree labour in isolati... more Departing from liberal accounts that understand ‘modern-day slavery’ and unfree labour in isolation from markets and shifting global networks of production and reproduction, this article highlights the need to investigate how far and in what ways the deepening and extension of neoliberal capitalism has given rise to the contemporary spectrum of unfree labour relations. Building on feminist political economy frameworks, the article argues that the neoliberal resurgence of unfree labour has been rooted in fundamental shifts in power, production and social reproduction whereby capital's security has increasingly come to rely upon the deepening of labour market insecurity for certain sections of the population. It highlights the need to understand unfree labour within the context of broader relations of inequality and hierarchical social relations, particularly along the lines of race, gender and citizenship, arguing that broader and more systemic evaluations of labour and unfreedom are essential to understanding the variegated power relations that underpin the most severe forms of exploitation.
Conjuring up images of nineteenth-century London à la Charles Dickens, the Wall Street Journal re... more Conjuring up images of nineteenth-century London à la Charles Dickens, the Wall Street Journal recently featured an article entitled “Welcome to Debtors' Prison, 2011 Edition.” The Journal was not using the term debtors' prison as a figure of speech but, rather, was documenting a recent spike in the use of arrest warrants by debt collectors to prosecute borrowers who cannot or will not repay small amounts of money. Indeed, over the past several years, and particularly following the most recent economic crisis from which the United States and the global economy have still not fully recovered, debt-buying firms have increasingly relied upon the state's legal system as a means of compelling individuals behind on their credit card payments, auto loans, and other bills to meet their obligations. In the past year alone, judges have signed off on more than 5,000 arrest warrants, incarcerating Americans for debts as small as $250.
The 2011 Historical Materialism Conference in London saw the launch of a Marxist Feminist set of ... more The 2011 Historical Materialism Conference in London saw the launch of a Marxist Feminist set of panels. This issue is inspired by the success of those panels, and the remarkably sustained interest in reviving and moving beyond older debates and discussions. The special issue’s focus, social-reproduction feminism, reflects and contextualises the ongoing work and engagement with that thematic that has threaded through the conferences in the 2010s. This Introduction provides a summary overview of the social-reproduction feminism framework, situating it within Marxist-Feminist thinking and politics more generally, and calls on readers to consider its promise and potential as an historical-materialist approach to understanding capitalist social relations in terms of an integrated totality.
Over the last decade, the norm of corporate accountability for labour standards in global supply ... more Over the last decade, the norm of corporate accountability for labour standards in global supply chains has become increasingly prominent within the transnational governance arena. As global governance initiatives to spur due diligence for labour standards and combat exploitation in global supply chains— especially its most severe forms frequently described as modern slavery— have proliferated, societal coalitions have pressured states to pass domestic legislation to the same effect. In this paper, we examine the regulatory processes that spurred the passage of one piece of anti-slavery legislation, the United Kingdom’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. Our findings corroborate a number of established expectations regarding business opposition towards new legislation to raise public labour standards, but also provide a clearer picture of the mechanisms through which industry actors impact policymaking processes. Paradoxically, such mechanisms include business actors’ championing of weak regulatory initiatives, CSR activity, and partnering with civil society organizations. Understanding industry actors’ use of these strategies improves our understanding of how transnational norms of corporate accountability and anti-slavery are being contested and shaped at domestic scales.
This brief article is meant as a primer on the current state of the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act, but the lessons here may also be applicable to the multitude of transparency regulations that have become the go-to form of corporate governance worldwide. In line with the empirical evidence to date, we argue that this type of transparency regulation – in its contemporary incarnation – is too weak a tool to bring about the changes necessary to eradicate labour abuse in global supply chains. At present, this type of regulation does more to serve large corporate interests than it does to address the suffering of vulnerable workers employed along global supply chains. But, it does not need to stay this way. If the goal is to eradicate worker exploitation, then initiatives like the Modern Slavery Act could be strengthened so they were more fit for purpose. We offer a number of straightforward suggestions to increase the effectiveness of the Act in steering corporate responsibility for forced labour in supply chains.
This article assesses the social consequences of efforts by multinational corporations to capture... more This article assesses the social consequences of efforts by multinational corporations to capture business value through recycling, reusing materials and reducing waste. Synthesising evidence from the global environmental justice and feminist and international political economy (IPE) literatures, it analyses the changing social property relations of global recycling chains. The authors argue that, although recycling more would seem to make good ecological sense, corporate programmes can rely on and further ingrain social patterns of harm and exploitation, particularly for the burgeoning labour force that depends on recyclables for subsistence living. Turning the waste stream into a profit stream also relies on prison labour in some places, such as in the United States where the federal government operates one of the country's largest electronics recycling programmes. The ongoing corporatisation of recycling, the authors argue further, is devaluing already marginalised populations within the global economy. Highlighting the need to account for the dynamism between social and environmental change within IPE scholarship, the article concludes by underlining the ways in which ‘green commerce’ programmes can shift capital's contradictions from nature onto labour.
This report documents deteriorating living and working conditions for workers in garment supply c... more This report documents deteriorating living and working conditions for workers in garment supply chains, including a surge in vulnerability to forced labour, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beyond Trafficking and Slavery editors introduce their issue 'On History', which challenges the s... more Beyond Trafficking and Slavery editors introduce their issue 'On History', which challenges the superficial narratives of anti-slavery used by 'modern-day abolitionists' and considers the lessons found in alternative historical approaches.
Fighting Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking: History and Contemporary Policy, 2021
Over the last two decades, fighting modern slavery and human trafficking has become a cause célèb... more Over the last two decades, fighting modern slavery and human trafficking has become a cause célèbre. Yet large numbers of researchers, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, workers, and others who would seem like natural allies in the fight against modern slavery and trafficking are hugely skeptical of these movements. They object to how the problems are framed, and are skeptical of the “new abolitionist” movement. Why? This book tackles key controversies surrounding the anti-slavery and anti-trafficking movements head on. Champions and skeptics explore the fissures and fault lines that surround efforts to fight modern slavery and human trafficking today. These include: whether efforts to fight modern slavery displace or crowd out support for labor and migrant rights; whether and to what extent efforts to fight modern slavery mask, naturalize, and distract from racial, gendered, and economic inequality; and whether contemporary anti-slavery and anti-trafficking crusaders' use of history are accurate and appropriate.
This report focuses on the South Indian garment industry clustered around Tirupur and specificall... more This report focuses on the South Indian garment industry clustered around Tirupur and specifically on the labour challenges faced by the industry. We conducted 135 interviews and engaged in a series of consultations with around 100 further participants (including business actors, workers, NGOs, unions, and government agencies) in South India during 2018-19 to explore these challenges and potential solutions. We found that the industry is at a crossroads. Despite decades of growth it faces three main labour challenges – competitive threats from lower cost producing countries, labour shortages, and reputational challenges around decent work. There is a widespread belief in the industry (including among employers, unions and workers) that pay and working conditions in the cluster have improved and that the worst forms of exploitation have declined in prevalence. However, exploitation persists in a variety of forms. The most common forms of exploitation are restrictions on freedom of movement, health and safety violations, low pay, lack of contracts, gender discrimination, verbal abuse, and limited opportunities for collective bargaining and association. There is some, but more limited, evidence of forced, bonded and child labour. These problems are a result of persistent structural conditions that give rise to exploitation. These include demand-led factors (namely, the cost, time and flexibility pressures experienced by producers) and supply-led factors which lead to vulnerability of workers (namely gender inequality, limited economic choices, and limited knowledge of relevant rights and protections among workers). To tackle these challenges, local actors have experimented with a range of different approaches. We identify four main alternative pathways to change: (i) Economic upgrading; (ii) Responsible migration; (iii) Relocation of manufacturing; (iv) Diversification. Each offers its own set of opportunities and challenges for addressing decent work and economic growth. We recommend that the industry and its stakeholders should collaborate to develop a shared Vision 2030 and accompanying goals to address decent work and economic growth in the sector. This should be used to drive alignment around a common strategy and provide a means for external branding of the cluster. A multi-stakeholder taskforce should be formed to lead the Vision 2030 initiative. We recommend that this process be formalized and inclusive and led by an independent organization or chair. Three key focus areas for the Vision 2030 should be freedom of movement, health and safety, and the development of worker-driven social responsibility. We offer 12 practical recommendations for key stakeholders to implement to tackle these focus areas.
Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, th... more Contrary to the expectations of liberal and neoclassical economists, as well as many Marxists, the deepening and extension of capitalism appear to be heightening the prevalence of unfree labor. By most accounts, the forms of exploitation encapsulated within unfree labor – including those typically referred to as forced labor, human trafficking and modern slavery – are proliferating in the global economy, including in advanced capitalist societies. We evaluate these developments in light of the relationship between capitalism and unfree labor through the prism of Marxism, revealing a deep-seated divide between a neo-Smithian reading, according to which capitalism and unfree labor are incompatible, and a more faithful Marxist tradition that views forced labor as one possible form of labor control and exploitation under capitalism. Building on this second tradition, we argue that international political economy scholars who seek to shed light into the contemporary and historic dynamics of unfree labor must transcend the rigid theoretical binaries that have long characterized Marxist debates on capitalism and unfree labor.
Corporate Commitments to Living Wages in the Garment Industry, 2019
Since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013, the garment industry ... more Since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013, the garment industry has faced growing pressure to raise wages and improve working conditions from consumers, civil society, unions and governments. Leading global corporations have made ambitious commitments to deliver living wages to the workers who make their clothes. In this report, we investigate the commitments and actions of 20 of the world’s leading garment companies. Of those, 17 are members of initiatives that profess a commitment to living wages. The investigation found that many companies do not have concrete, measurable action plans for achieving a living wage in their global supply chains, or benchmarks for calculating living wage rates. Instead of altering their purchasing practices to make it possible for suppliers to pay living wages, most garment corporations are outsourcing their living wage commitments to external initiatives. Some companies are part of multiple external initiatives, each with different definitions and approaches to living wages, which mean that corporate commitments lack clarity. Our analysis shows that corporate supplier codes of conduct are often out of step with the requirements of the external initiatives they are involved with.
By most accounts, forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery are thriving in the global... more By most accounts, forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery are thriving in the global economy. Recent media reports — including the discovery of widespread trafficking in Thailand's shrimp industry, forced labour in global tea and cocoa supply chains, and the devastating deaths of workers constructing stadiums for Qatar's World Cup— have brought once hidden exploitation into the mainstream spotlight. As public concern about forced labour has escalated, governments around the world have begun to enact legislation to combat it in global production.
Yet, in spite of soaring media and policy attention, reliable research on the business of forced labour remains difficult to come by. Forced labour is notoriously challenging to investigate, given that it is illegal, and powerful corporations and governments are reluctant to grant academics access to their workers and supply chains. Given the risk associated with researching the business of forced labour, until very recently, few scholars even attempted to collect hard or systematic data. Instead, academics have often had little choice but to rely on poor quality second-hand data, frequently generated by activists and businesses with vested interests in portraying the problem in a certain light. As a result, the evidence base on contemporary forced labour is both dangerously thin and riddled with bias.
Researching Forced Labour in the Global Economy gathers an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars to tackle this problem. It provides the first, comprehensive, scholarly account of forced labour's role in the contemporary global economy and reflections on the methodologies used to generate this research.
International Labour Organization International Labour Office Working Paper 32
This study analyses the global rise of disclosure legislations as an approach to governing labour... more This study analyses the global rise of disclosure legislations as an approach to governing labour standards in global supply chains. It is one of the first studies to systematically map and analyse the institutional design and effectiveness of disclosure legislations, and to evaluate its capacity to steer corporate behaviour in the area of labour standards. It proposes a typology to analyse the various forms of disclosure legislations that States are passing, and provides a framework that scholars, policymakers, and other stakeholders can use to evaluate new legislation as it is passed, including its stringency, design, and institutional effectiveness.
This report presents the findings from the Global Business of Forced Labour project. The project ... more This report presents the findings from the Global Business of Forced Labour project. The project is a first-of-its kind international research study investigating the business models of forced labour in global agricultural supply chains. Over two years the project systematically mapped the business of forced labour, focusing on case studies of cocoa and tea supply chains. Through extensive primary research in the cocoa industry in Ghana and the tea industry in India and with domestic and international business actors, the project generated an original dataset that sheds light on the drivers and patterns of forced labour in agricultural supply chains feeding UK markets. This dataset includes in-depth interviews with over 120 tea and cocoa workers, a survey of over 1000 tea and cocoa workers, and over 100 interviews with business and government actors including: tea and cocoa plantation managers, buyers, large multinational beverage and confectionery companies, corporate social responsibility experts.
The report analyses the patterns of forced labour in cocoa and tea supply chains and the effectiveness of key business and government initiatives in combatting it. By way of conclusion, it offers recommendations to strengthen approaches to address and prevent forced labour in supply chains. Targeted recommendations for policymakers, business, and certification organisations are laid out in a series of policy briefs that accompanies this report.
Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migran... more Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migrant labour, and have long been associated with exploitative practices. More recently, hostels have come under scrutiny because of accusations that they are used to restrict workers’ freedom in ways that are tantamount to modern slavery. Drawing on a qualitative study of a garment hub in South India where such claims have frequently arisen, we explore the conditions of freedom and unfreedom in worker hostels and how suppliers who run such hostels respond to competing expectations about worker freedom. Our findings show that hostels perform three interrelated functions: restriction, protection, and liberation, which together constitute a complex mix of freedom and unfreedom for migrant women workers that we term hybrid (un)freedom. As a result, we problematize the binary understandings of freedom and unfreedom that predominate in the modern slavery literature. We also develop a new way forwa...
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Articles by Genevieve LeBaron
Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and
working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced
labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of
broader dynamics of work and employment, since low-waged workers
tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short
periods of time. Third, on-the-ground studies of the effectiveness of
buyer-centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate
social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to
indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of
future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for
business scholars to make a contribution.
labour standards for the workers producing their goods, companies at the
helm of global garment supply chains have made commitments to pay
living wages within their supply chains. Harnessing insights from the
critical political economy literature on corporate social responsibility
(CSR), we investigate the actions of garment companies to meet these
commitments. We do so through analysis of original data from a survey
of 20 leading garment companies, which we co-developed in 2018–
2019, as well as publicly available information for garment companies
and relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives. Based on this data, we argue
there is very little evidence to suggest companies have made
meaningful progress towards achieving commitments to pay living
wages in their supply chains, challenging widespread assumptions
about CSR’s benefits to workers. We argue that in the face of mounting
evidence of CSR ineffectiveness, including our own, there is a need for
new political economy research into the benefits that companies derive
from CSR commitments that deflect attention from their core business
models and the uneven value distribution within global supply chains.
national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted
role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas
of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research
that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated.
described as modern slavery— have proliferated, societal coalitions have pressured states to pass domestic legislation to the same effect. In this paper, we examine the regulatory processes that spurred the passage of one piece of anti-slavery legislation, the United Kingdom’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. Our findings corroborate a number of established expectations regarding business opposition towards new legislation to raise public labour standards, but also provide a clearer picture of the mechanisms through which industry actors impact policymaking processes. Paradoxically, such mechanisms include business actors’ championing of weak regulatory initiatives, CSR activity, and partnering with civil society organizations. Understanding industry actors’ use of these strategies improves our understanding of how transnational norms of corporate accountability and anti-slavery are being contested and shaped at domestic scales.
This brief article is meant as a primer on the current state of the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act, but the lessons here may also be applicable to the multitude of transparency regulations that have become the go-to form of corporate governance worldwide. In line with the empirical evidence to date, we argue that this type of transparency regulation – in its contemporary incarnation – is too weak a tool to bring about the changes necessary to eradicate labour abuse in global supply chains. At present, this type of regulation does more to serve large corporate interests than it does to address the suffering of vulnerable workers employed along global supply chains. But, it does not need to stay this way. If the goal is to eradicate worker exploitation, then initiatives like the Modern Slavery Act could be strengthened so they were more fit for purpose. We offer a number of straightforward suggestions to increase the effectiveness of the Act in steering corporate responsibility for forced labour in supply chains.
Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and
working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced
labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of
broader dynamics of work and employment, since low-waged workers
tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short
periods of time. Third, on-the-ground studies of the effectiveness of
buyer-centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate
social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to
indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of
future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for
business scholars to make a contribution.
labour standards for the workers producing their goods, companies at the
helm of global garment supply chains have made commitments to pay
living wages within their supply chains. Harnessing insights from the
critical political economy literature on corporate social responsibility
(CSR), we investigate the actions of garment companies to meet these
commitments. We do so through analysis of original data from a survey
of 20 leading garment companies, which we co-developed in 2018–
2019, as well as publicly available information for garment companies
and relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives. Based on this data, we argue
there is very little evidence to suggest companies have made
meaningful progress towards achieving commitments to pay living
wages in their supply chains, challenging widespread assumptions
about CSR’s benefits to workers. We argue that in the face of mounting
evidence of CSR ineffectiveness, including our own, there is a need for
new political economy research into the benefits that companies derive
from CSR commitments that deflect attention from their core business
models and the uneven value distribution within global supply chains.
national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted
role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas
of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research
that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated.
described as modern slavery— have proliferated, societal coalitions have pressured states to pass domestic legislation to the same effect. In this paper, we examine the regulatory processes that spurred the passage of one piece of anti-slavery legislation, the United Kingdom’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. Our findings corroborate a number of established expectations regarding business opposition towards new legislation to raise public labour standards, but also provide a clearer picture of the mechanisms through which industry actors impact policymaking processes. Paradoxically, such mechanisms include business actors’ championing of weak regulatory initiatives, CSR activity, and partnering with civil society organizations. Understanding industry actors’ use of these strategies improves our understanding of how transnational norms of corporate accountability and anti-slavery are being contested and shaped at domestic scales.
This brief article is meant as a primer on the current state of the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act, but the lessons here may also be applicable to the multitude of transparency regulations that have become the go-to form of corporate governance worldwide. In line with the empirical evidence to date, we argue that this type of transparency regulation – in its contemporary incarnation – is too weak a tool to bring about the changes necessary to eradicate labour abuse in global supply chains. At present, this type of regulation does more to serve large corporate interests than it does to address the suffering of vulnerable workers employed along global supply chains. But, it does not need to stay this way. If the goal is to eradicate worker exploitation, then initiatives like the Modern Slavery Act could be strengthened so they were more fit for purpose. We offer a number of straightforward suggestions to increase the effectiveness of the Act in steering corporate responsibility for forced labour in supply chains.
violations, low pay, lack of contracts, gender discrimination, verbal abuse, and limited opportunities for collective bargaining and association. There is some, but more limited, evidence of forced, bonded and child labour. These problems are a result of persistent structural conditions that give rise to exploitation. These include demand-led factors (namely, the cost, time and flexibility pressures experienced by producers) and supply-led factors which lead to vulnerability of workers (namely gender inequality, limited economic choices, and limited knowledge of relevant rights and protections among workers). To tackle these challenges, local actors have experimented with a range of different approaches. We identify four main alternative pathways to change: (i) Economic upgrading; (ii) Responsible migration; (iii) Relocation of manufacturing; (iv) Diversification. Each offers its own set of opportunities and challenges for addressing decent work and economic growth. We recommend that the industry and its stakeholders should collaborate to develop a shared Vision 2030 and accompanying goals to address decent work and economic growth in the sector. This should be used to drive alignment around a common strategy and provide a means for external branding of the cluster. A multi-stakeholder taskforce should be formed to lead the Vision 2030 initiative. We recommend that this process be formalized and inclusive and led by an independent organization or chair. Three key focus areas for the Vision 2030 should be freedom of movement, health and safety, and the development of worker-driven social responsibility. We offer 12 practical recommendations for key stakeholders to implement to tackle these focus areas.
Yet, in spite of soaring media and policy attention, reliable research on the business of forced labour remains difficult to come by. Forced labour is notoriously challenging to investigate, given that it is illegal, and powerful corporations and governments are reluctant to grant academics access to their workers and supply chains. Given the risk associated with researching the business of forced labour, until very recently, few scholars even attempted to collect hard or systematic data. Instead, academics have often had little choice but to rely on poor quality second-hand data, frequently generated by activists and businesses with vested interests in portraying the problem in a certain light. As a result, the evidence base on contemporary forced labour is both dangerously thin and riddled with bias.
Researching Forced Labour in the Global Economy gathers an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars to tackle this problem. It provides the first, comprehensive, scholarly account of forced labour's role in the contemporary global economy and reflections on the methodologies used to generate this research.
and other stakeholders can use to evaluate new legislation as it is passed, including its stringency, design, and institutional effectiveness.
The report analyses the patterns of forced labour in cocoa and tea supply chains and the effectiveness of key business and government initiatives in combatting it. By way of conclusion, it offers recommendations to strengthen approaches to address and prevent forced labour in supply chains. Targeted recommendations for policymakers, business, and certification organisations are laid out in a series of policy briefs that accompanies this report.