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In this intellectually ambitious study, Elizabeth McKillen explores the significance of Wilsonian internationalism for workers and the influence of American labor in both shaping and undermining the foreign policies and war mobilization efforts of Woodrow Wilson's administration. McKillen highlights the major fault lines and conflicts that emerged within labor circles as Wilson pursued his agenda in the context of Mexican and European revolutions, World War I, and the Versailles Peace Conference. As McKillen shows, the choice to collaborate with or resist U.S. foreign policy remained an important one for labor throughout the twentieth century. In fact, it continues to resonate today in debates over the global economy, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the impact of U.S. policies on workers at home and abroad.

The UAW's Southern Gamble is the first in-depth assessment of the United Auto Workers' efforts to organize foreign vehicle plants (Daimler-Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Volkswagen) in the American South since 1989, an era when union membership declined precipitously. Stephen J. Silvia chronicles transnational union cooperation between the UAW and its counterparts in Brazil, France, Germany, and Japan and documents the development of employer strategies that have proven increasingly effective at thwarting unionization. Silvia shows that when organizing, unions must now fight on three fronts: at the worksite; in the corporate boardroom; and in the political realm. The UAW's Southern Gamble makes clear that the UAW's failed campaigns in the South can teach hard-won lessons about challenging the structural and legal roadblocks to union participation and effectively organizing workers within and beyond the auto industry.

The author argues that the June 2012 challenge by the ILO Employers' group to the hitherto generally accepted view regarding the right to strike under the Freedom of Association Convention, No. 87, is at odds with the historical understanding of the framework in which the Convention is embedded. She demonstrates how the ILO constituents have consistently recognized that there is a positive right to strike, which is inextricably linked to – and an inevitable corollary of – the right to freedom of association. The article also analyses the relative roles of the ILO supervisory bodies in this regard.

01 02 The significance of international organisations as historical actors is one of the least researched aspects 20th century history. Daniel Maul's study of the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) during the core phase of decolonization (1940 to 1970) opens up new perspectives on the topic. Clearly presented, methodologically innovative and based on a wide range of sources, Maul explores makes clear the multifarious ways in which the ILO contributed to the debates which accompanied the dissolution of the European colonial empires and the processes of post-colonial nation-building that followed, both as a political hub and a forum for debate and as an independent actor. Maul takes an innovative look at the history of decolonization, post-colonial nation-building and the enduringly relevant international human rights and development discourses that these processes spawned. 02 02 An innovative diplomatic and intellectual history of decolonization, post-colonial nation building and international human rights and development discourses, this study of the role of the ILO during 1940–70 opens up new perspectives on the significance of international organisations as actors in the history of the 20th century. 19 02 One of the first books to explore the role of an international organization's secretariats in world politics on an empirical basis Contextualizes the history of the ILO within global debates Opens up new perspectives on the history of decolonization, Important new insights into the development of human rights discourses 13 02 DANIEL ROGER MAUL Lecturer in the Department of History, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germany, and has published widely on the history of globalization and international organizations. He is currently working on a history of international relief in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 08 02 'Abreak-through in historical scholarship on international politics in the twentieth century in general and on the role of international organizations, human rights and development in particular. It is immensely gratifying to see this excellent book appear in English translation, which makes it available to the large international audience it deserves. A carefully crafted, well-written study, the book will become a standard work for scholars and students in history, political science, human rights and development studies.' - Corinna R. Unger, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany 'This excellent book offers fresh insights into the complex field of international social policy. After difficult beginnings the International Labour Organization became 'a world en miniature', within which a new state order with new nations and new ideas, hopes, and claims for freedom and human rights emerged in the decades after World War II. The ILO shaped the process of decolonization in manifold ways and, as Daniel Maul shows on the basis of much new evidence, helped to establish a discourse of global responsibility.' -Andreas Eckert, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Germany 'This is a rich history for scholars of human rights, international organizations, and development, tightly focused on the ILO but not trapped in the halls of its secretariat.' - Roland Burke, La Trobe University, American Historical Review 04 02 List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Timeline Introduction PART I: 'A PEOPLE'S PEACE IN THE COLONIES', 1940–47 'The promise of a new earth to till': The ILO's Colonial Work in Exile, 1940–43 A Charter for the Colonies: The Colonies at the Philadelphia Conference, 1944 A New World With New Ideas: The ILO and the Quest for a Colonial Post-war Order, 1945–48 PART II: THE TOOLS OF PROGRESS: THE ILO, 1948–60 Principled Development: The Beginnings of the Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) At Arm's Length: The ILO and Late Colonial Social Policy Universal Rights? Standard-setting Against the Backdrop of Late Colonialism, Decolonization and the Cold War PART III: A GROWING CONFLICT: DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN RIGHTS AND DECOLONIZATION, 1960–70 A New Power: The ILO and the Growing Importance of the Developing World in the 1960s An Intellectual Fashion: Human Rights Standards as a Barrier to Development? Conclusion Appendix I: Selection of Important Conventions and Recommendations, 1930–70 Appendix II: Ratification of Core Human Rights Standards by Country and Date of Ratification (Selection) Sources and Bibliography Index 31 02 A history of the role of the ILO in the period of decolonization and post-colonial nation building and its contribution to international human rights and development discourses

The question of whether global norms are experiencing a crisis allows for two concurrent answers. From a facticity perspective, certain global norms are in crisis, given their worldwide lack of implementation and effectiveness. From a validity perspective, however, a crisis is not obvious, as these norms are not openly contested discursively and institutionally. In order to explain the double diagnosis (crisis/no crisis), this article draws on international relations research on norm contestation and norm robustness. It proposes the concept of hidden discursive contestation and distinguishes it from three other key types of norm contestation: open discursive, open non-discursive and hidden non-discursive contestation. We identify four manifestations of hidden discursive contestation in: (1) the deflection of responsibility; (2) forestalling norm strengthening; (3) displaying norms as functional means to an end; and (4) downgrading or upgrading single norm elements. Our empirical focus is on the decent work norm, which demonstrates the double diagnosis. While it lacks facticity, it enjoys far-reaching verbal acceptance and high validity. Our qualitative analysis of discursive hidden contestation draws on two case studies: the International Labour Organization’s compliance procedures, which monitor international labour standards, and the United Nations Treaty Process on a binding instrument for business and human rights. Although both fora have different context and policy cycles, they exhibit similar strategies of hidden discursive contestation.