The ILO at 100: Institutional Innovation in an Era of Populism

6 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2019 Last revised: 12 Dec 2019

See all articles by Laurence R. Helfer

Laurence R. Helfer

Duke University School of Law; University of Copenhagen - iCourts - Centre of Excellence for International Courts

Date Written: December 9, 2019

Abstract

The centenary of the International Labor Organization (ILO) provides an opportunity to take stock of the organization’s many achievements. But the centenary also calls for a clear-eyed assessment of the profound challenges that the ILO currently faces – including the growth of the informal and gig economies, digitization and automation, and rising material inequality – and the populist ferment that those trends have helped to engender. This essay, part of a forthcoming AJIL Unbound symposium on "The Transnational Futures of International Labor Law," sketches the ILO’s rich history of legal and policy innovation in response to changes in labor conditions worldwide. It then identifies four impediments to the ILO’s ability to ameliorate the hardships and dislocations of the 21st century workplace, including the rapid rise of nationalist populism in many countries.

Keywords: ILO, labor, international organizations, populism, work, workplace protections, informal economy, international standard setting, social protection, international economic law

Suggested Citation

Helfer, Laurence R., The ILO at 100: Institutional Innovation in an Era of Populism (December 9, 2019). 113 AJIL Unbound 396 (2019), Duke Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Series No. 2019-57, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3433820 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3433820

Laurence R. Helfer (Contact Author)

Duke University School of Law ( email )

210 Science Dr.
Box 90360
Durham, NC 27708
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+1-919-613-8573 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.duke.edu/fac/helfer/

University of Copenhagen - iCourts - Centre of Excellence for International Courts ( email )

University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law
Karen Blixens Plads 16
Copenhagen S, DK-2300
Denmark

HOME PAGE: http://jura.ku.dk/icourts/

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