Continuation of the ILO Principles in the 21st Century Through the Compliance Pull of Core Labor Rights

Özen Eren

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DOI: 10.2190/WR.13.3.f

Abstract

More than a decade has passed since the adoption by the International Labor Organization (ILO) of the 1998 "Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work." However, the debate over the meaning and implications of this change has not reached a conclusion yet. This article argues that regime theory can offer insights to move the debate to a more fruitful plane. The analysis suggests that the Declaration's reinforcement of the ILO's long-standing principles and norms in the context of four core labor rights can be interpreted as the emergence of a nested regime within the overarching ILO regime. From now on, the continuation of the ILO principles will be a function of how well the Declaration's nested regime takes advantage of the "compliance pull" that the legitimacy of core labor rights generates against the competing principles of the neoliberal agenda.

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