Bibliographie sélective OHADA

Transnational labour law scholarship has emerged over the past three decades. However, relatively limited scholarship has explored the role of actors from emerging market economies and the challenges and opportunities they have brought for achieving decent work in a globalized economy. This thesis addresses the research gap through an in-depth investigation into the role of actors from China in the dynamics of multi-level governance of labour rights in a globalized economy. Building on a multi-level, actor-centred and processual approach, this thesis argues that China and Chinese enterprises are playing a rising role in developing and shaping the dynamics of multi-level governance of labour rights in the global cobalt supply chain. Furthermore, the thesis suggests that actors from China have started challenging some unequal patterns of existing labour governance in the global cobalt supply chain and have demonstrated the potential to form a counterbalancing force to challenge the dominant role of actors from the global North. A multi-level governance framework has recently emerged and rapidly evolved in the global cobalt supply chain to eliminate child labour in the artisanal copper-cobalt mining sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This framework is complex, pluralistic, and decentred. A wide range of state and non-state actors are developing various governance initiatives and shaping the dynamics of multi-level governance. Actors from China are playing a rising role in the global cobalt supply chain alongside a few other actors that have also provided proposals from the global South. Over the past decade, Chinese state agencies, nationwide industry associations and mining enterprises have proactively engaged in developing and shaping the multi-level governance framework to address governance deficits on decent work in the global cobalt supply chain. State agencies have developed various regulatory documents to enhance the social dimension of the Chinese regulatory framework for outward foreign direct investment. Nationwide industry associations have further conceptualized the term “corporate social responsibility” and have taken labour rights as key to the social responsibilities of Chinese enterprises operating overseas. Specifically, a Chinese nationwide industry association for the mining industry has developed comprehensive guidelines and initiatives to clarify and operationalize the labour component of social responsibilities in Chinese outward mining investment. The changing dynamics of multi-level governance have played a crucial role in shaping the private labour governance initiatives that Chinese mining enterprises are developing in the global cobalt supply chain. The contributions of this thesis are original, significant, and timely, given the notable research gaps on China and Chinese enterprises’ engagement with the dynamics of multi-level governance of labour rights in a globalized economy and the ongoing development of a multi-level governance framework in the global cobalt supply chain

Identifier: https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/7d2790853