Open AccessLABOUR AND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: TOWARDS A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LINKAGE DISCOURSE
Author(s) -
Luke Lazarus Arnold
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
deakin law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1835-9264
pISSN - 1321-3660
DOI - 10.21153/dlr2005vol10no1art270
Subject(s) - stalemate , protectionism , sanctions , linkage (software) , enforcement , sociology , economics , political science , law , law and economics , international trade , biology , genetics , gene , politics
[ As the World Trade Organization approaches its ten-year anniversary, the long-discussed issue of linking the right to trade with the enforcement of cer- tain labour standards continues to persist. However, the discourse on the is- sue has hit a stalemate of late. In the hope of overcoming the stalemate and moving toward effective solutions on the issue, this paper explains and ex- amines four types of “conceptual differentiations” that currently underpin a significant portion of the labour linkage discourse. The “conceptual differ- entiations” examined are trade/non-trade; north/south; liberalisa- tion/protectionism; economic development/poverty; consumption/ production; universalist/relativist; WTO/ILO; and sanctions/welfare. A pol- icy proposal for further discussion on the issue is then presented, based ona re-conceptualisation of the “conceptual differentiations” discussed .]