Fenwick, Colin --- "The ILO and national labour law reform: Six case studies" [2016] ELECD 1541; in Marshall, Shelley; Fenwick, Colin (eds), "Labour Regulation and Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 235

Book Title: Labour Regulation and Development

Editor(s): Marshall, Shelley; Fenwick, Colin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785364891

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: The ILO and national labour law reform: Six case studies

Author(s): Fenwick, Colin

Number of pages: 53

Abstract/Description:

This chapter is about the experience and practice of labour law reform in six countries in which the International Labour Organization (ILO) was asked to assist: Cambodia, El Salvador, Liberia, Nepal, Romania and South Africa. The primary goal is to consider what theory and practice might learn from each other: to explore how the theoretical arguments made elsewhere in this book could shape the ILO’s ‘practice’ of labour law reform, and, in turn, how experience from that practice might be used to refine theory. The case studies include work done in the early 1990s – El Salvador and South Africa – as well as work that has been done more recently – Liberia, Nepal and Romania – and one case in which the ILO has been engaged deeply for many years – Cambodia. In five cases the ILO became involved soon after the end of major crises, and/or in the context of very recent transitions to multi-party democracy: Cambodia, El Salvador, Liberia, Nepal and South Africa. In Romania, advice was sought ‘mid-crisis’, that is, during discussion of appropriate policy interventions after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The case studies span various other ranges: political systems, levels of economic and human development, and types of work done by the ILO and/or the International Labour Office (Office). They also encompass different effects and outcomes. It is important to note that the case studies have been chosen in order to be illustrative, but without pretence that they are representative in some quantifiable sense: the goal is to use the case studies to explore arguments, and to identify areas for future work, rather than to try to interrogate them in a methodologically rigorous way. Thus, the case studies are not presented according to a single framework or outline. This reflects the range of circumstances and countries chosen, and the consequences this has for the availability of data and secondary literature. It also reflects – but also facilitates – the value in presenting an initial group of case studies so that they are shaped by their own narrative as much as possible. At the same time, however, each case study considers the connections with ideas from other chapters in this book. Each case study – and the overall conclusion – explicitly considers three elements from Deakin and Marshall’s checklist: context dependence, systemic fit, and inclusivity and democratisation. These elements receive particular attention both because of their inherent significance, and because they clearly arise from each of the case studies as presented here.