We find ourselves living in an increasingly globalized world
where capital, information, and trade are moving around the world
at an unprecedented pace. It is a world that in many ways seems to
be shrinking. While the nation state still plays an important role,
borders seem to be blurring and losing some of their relevance.
Increasing globalization has major implications for the working
conditions of workers worldwide – workers who are extracting
resources, growing food, and producing goods for a global market.
Working conditions in the Westphalian model are the responsibility
of the nation state. But what happens when the nation state is
unable to effectively perform this role, either from lack of will or
lack of resources and capacity?
Beyond laws and regulations, there exists a range of other tools
that can be employed to achieve global equity and sustainability
policy objectives. Some of these tools are based on the need to
influence change where command and control approaches cannot
be implemented. Others are based on insights flowing from behavioural
economics and compliance psychology. In an increasingly
globalized world public regulators do not always have the capacity
to ensure labour standards are met. One approach to fill this regulatory
gap is self-regulation by the private sector, but this paper