Hannah Murphy

The Making of International Trade Policy

This book investigates the contributions of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to policymaking at the WTO, challenging the idea that NGOs can be narrowly understood as potential ‘democratic antidotes’ to the imperfections of Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs).

The World Bank and core labour standards: Between flexibility and regulation

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, the World Bank has moved closer to accepting the International Labour Organizations (ILOs) core labour standards (CLS) and, in the process, sought to balance its promotion of labour market flexibility with a new focus on labour market regulation. The Banks change of approach includes the 2009 decision to review and subsequently remove its labour market flexibility indicator (used to score the extent of labour market flexibility amongst its member-states) from its flagship publication, Doing Business. The aim of this article is to chart the softening of the Banks emphasis on labour market flexibility and distil the contributing factors. With reference to the global financial crisis and the Banks organizational characteristics, the article evaluates the work of international trade unions and the ILO as agenda-setters and compliance monitors and pro-labour industrialized states as ‘insider advocates’ in broadening the Banks commitment to the CLS. The article demonstrates the influential nature of tacit coalitions between state and non-state actors representing a coalescence of normative values and economic interests. The Banks changing approach to labour markets also contributes new evidence to the emerging, yet tentative, consensus that the neoliberal paradigm is undergoing a rebalancing, rather than an overhaul, in the post-crisis era.

Rethinking the roles of non-governmental organisations at the World Trade Organization

The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in global governance has attracted increasing attention over the past two decades. Yet the scholarly concern with the potential for NGOs to democratise international organisations has worked to neglect inquiry into the nature of their activities and the strategies that they deploy as policy-making participants in global governing arrangements. This article provides an account of the roles that NGOs play in international trade governance at the World Trade Organization (WTO) via their international campaign activities. Utilising examples of two NGO campaigns directed at the WTO (in the areas of intellectual property and multilateral investment rules), it demonstrates that NGOs play entrepreneurial roles in broadening the trade agenda by publicising neglected trade-related issues, building coalitions and boosting the negotiating resources of developing member countries. By examining their attempts to articulate an expanded conception of the global public interest, the article concludes that NGOs should be viewed as important actors within global public policy networks, even when they are formally excluded from the decision-making tables of international organisations.

Business and sustainability : between government pressure and self-regulation

Part I: Introduction.- Part II: Economic Dimension of Sustainability.- Part III: Environmental Dimension of Sustainability.- Part IV: Social and Cultural Dimensions of Sustainability.- Part V: Conclusion.

Business and Sustainability: An Introduction

Business increasingly participates in co-regulatory and self-regulatory arrangements along national governments, international organizations, civil society and private-public institutions. These co-regulatory and self-regulatory arrangements span multiple political arenas and jurisdictions from the community level to international relations. Fair trade and energy consumption labels, accounting and transparency standards as well forest certification and emissions trading are well known examples of the increasing role of business in the dynamic regulatory space.