Trade, Labor Conditionality, and Supply Chain Resilience (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
The concept of supply chain resilience, and even the supply chain itself, has evolved from being a technical concern of individual firms and organizations to a high priority of national governments For firms, supply chain resilience is a condition in which supply chains operate continuously and efficiently despite various shocks to the system U S…
Mar 2025
Transnational Labor Law as a Spiderweb: Is There a Spider? Is There a Web? (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
In 2005, Sir Bob Hepple published one of the frst books describing contemporary transnational labor law/governance (TLG).1 The book pointed out several characteristics of this contemporary field.2 First, it signifed the transition from international to transnational; that is, a body of law that is no longer confined to the relations between nations. TLG designates both…
Mar 2025
Gender, Value-Chain Upgrading, and The Costs of Human Capital: The Case of a Garment Supply Chain in China (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
The Global Value Chain (GVC) has become a mainstream analytical framework to map the unequal distribution of value-addition and surplus-capturing power across the global supply-chain economy. Gender and development scholars find that gender inequality in and beyond the GVC constitutes unequal distribution of economic surplus in the GVC. Meanwhile, the GVC discussion also generates a…
Mar 2025
Protecting Workers’ Rights in Global Supply Chains: Will the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Make a Meaningful Difference? (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
The road to the adoption of the European Union’s (EU) Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was a long and winding one. Following years of work by EU institutions and continuous advocacy by civil society organizations, including trade unions, last-minute objections from some EU member states threatened to derail the process entirely. After making several…
Mar 2025
Reimagining Labor Governance in Global Value Chains: Lessons from the Mathadi Model for Adapting Wage Boards to Transnational Labor Governance (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
There is growing evidence that private corporate and multi-stakeholder initiatives— often termed ‘Supply Chain Solutions’—are failing to address the social and environmental challenges arising from the governance of Global Value Chains (GVCs). GVCs themselves challenge traditional labor laws and employment regulations due to their multi-tiered supply structures, the dynamics of private power, and the cross-border…
Mar 2025
Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Sea (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
This Symposium contribution assesses the ability of international law to evolve to offer essential protections for workers in an increasingly globalized world. It focuses on protections for women seafarers, specifcally around gender-based violence and harassment on board vessels. Even though it is the world’s oldest transnational sector, seafaring remains overwhelmingly male-dominated. Consequently, international law was…
Mar 2025
Voice, Prevention, Remedy: Key Elements in a Global Supply Chain Convention (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
Borrowing from Albert Hirschman’s classic work, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, focused on deteriorating performance in economic organizations, this Article explores the interplay among three key elements of a proposed International Convention on Global Supply Chains (GSCs). In doing so, it suggests that Hirschman’s model may not have adequately appreciated the distinctive role of power in…
Mar 2025
For Protection or For Profit? Non-State Actors in Global Labor Migration Governance (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
Development economists have sounded the alarm: we face a global demographic crisis that threatens massive global labor shortages and resulting economic doom. According to the World Bank, demographic growth patterns are intensifying global competition for workers and talent, creating a “great divergence.” On the one hand, advanced economies face aging societies, where the ratio of…
Mar 2025
Recent News and Events
The Problems of Legitimacy of the South African Magistrate Court System as a Quasi-Judicial Entity: a Historical, Statutory, and Case-Based Analysis, Vol. 56.3
INTRODUCTION: This article aims to complete an in-depth analysis of an often-overlooked part of the South African judicial system, the Magistrate Court system. The article will highlight the historical evolution of the Magistrates’ Courts, and the negative public perception of the Magistrates’ Courts, especially worsened by the Magistrates’ Courts’ role in perpetuating the harms of…
Mar 01 2024
The Bounds of Bond v. United States: International Treaties and Military Prosecution of Bacteriological Murder, Vol. 56.3
Introduction Little has been written about congressional treaty power beyond the seminal cases Missouri v. Holland, Reid v. Covert, and of course, Bond v. United States. But even with such a limited pool of information, one rule is clear: congressional power to regulate interstate commerce does not permit prosecutions for domestic crimes under statutes implementing…
Mar 01 2024
The Current Reality of Post-Arab Spring Constitutional Reforms in Morocco and Tunisia, Vol. 56.2
During the 2010-2011 political uprisings in countries across the Middle East and North Africa (“MENA”), dubbed the “Arab Spring,” protestors championed constitutional reforms as a way of transforming their autocratic regimes into more democratic systems. In reality, though, there was a large gulf between the aspirations of these reforms and what they were actually able…
Dec 29 2023
Some Questions About Ukrainian “Way to NATO” Constitutionality: Some Legal Aspects Which May Become the Stumbling Blocks for Ukrainian Future NATO Membership, Vol. 56.2
Introduction Following the recent official survey, almost 90% of Ukrainians want Ukraine to become a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”) member, which is logical given Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The paradox, however, is that such a way is blocked primarily because of the Russian invasion. Putin reasoned that by invading, he could halt the…
Dec 29 2023