Frey, Diane F
(2012)
An institutional and compliance approach to labour standards in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis considers how to establish respect for labour rights. It aims to inform
the analysis of compliance problems and create a diagnostic approach to
implementing labour rights. The ultimate goal is to provide insight into the
interventions necessary to progressively implement labour rights as defined in
international law.
The project creates a conceptual framing of labour rights by joining two
theoretical approaches: institutions theory and compliance theory. Drawing on
institutions theory from political economy, the thesis reframes labour rights
regulations, as holistic institutions comprised of rules, norms and actual
behaviours, the so-called ‘rules of the game’ in employment. In this context,
problems in implementing labour rights are understood as employment practices
that are embedded in a web of formal and informal rules governing work within
society. Once, reframed in institutional terms, employment practices that violate
labour rights can then be analyzed and shortcomings identified using compliance
theory. Compliance theory is well suited to institutional approaches because it,
like institutions theory treats norms, rules and behaviours as critical components
in achieving compliance.
The thesis integrates the framework into a diagnostic methodology and tool for
comparison of labour rights compliance among the countries that are parties to the
Dominican Republic, Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). It
applies the methodology to two cases. The first case examines obligatory
overtime and trafficking and the second focuses on freedom of association. The
analyses are based on publicly available documentary evidence from distinct
perspectives such as the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU),
the United States State Department Human Rights Reports and ILO Committee of
Experts reports and observations.
The thesis concludes that the diagnostic methodology can help to uncover
institutional patterns associated with labour rights compliance problems as well as
problems with the international legal norms themselves.
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