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The International Defense of Workers

Labor Rights, U.S. Trade Agreements, and State Sovereignty

Kevin J. Middlebrook

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Paperback

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English
Columbia University Press
23 April 2024
International trade agreements have often been criticized for limited attention to the rights of workers. The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), a side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), stands out for linking labor rights provisions to a U.S. trade agreement. Kevin J. Middlebrook provides a comprehensive and systematic examination of the NAALC, assessing its efficacy in protecting workers' rights over the entire period it was in effect and demonstrating its broader significance for the role of trade and labor standards in U.S. foreign policy.

Placing the NAALC in comparative context, Middlebrook considers various ways of promoting workers' rights and how other U.S. international trade agreements have influenced labor rights abroad. He investigates the origins of the agreement; the political controversies among Canada, Mexico, and the United States over its scope; how the agreement operated in practice; and its longer-term policy legacies. Middlebrook emphasizes the tension between state sovereignty and the international promotion of labor rights in the negotiation and implementation of trade agreements, as well as how labor movements in one partner country can galvanize action in others.

Drawing on interviews with high-level officials involved in the trade negotiations and previously unexamined primary sources, The International Defense of Workers is a groundbreaking analysis of the effects of U.S. trade agreements on labor rights.

By:  
Imprint:   Columbia University Press
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 235mm,  Width: 156mm, 
ISBN:   9780231213431
ISBN 10:   0231213433
Series:   Woodrow Wilson Center Series
Pages:   592
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Kevin J. Middlebrook (1950–2022) was professor of Latin American politics at the Institute of the Americas, University College London. His books include The Paradox of Revolution: Labor, the State, and Authoritarianism in Mexico (1995) and Organized Labour and Politics in Mexico: Changes, Continuities, and Contradictions (2012).

Reviews for The International Defense of Workers: Labor Rights, U.S. Trade Agreements, and State Sovereignty

Kevin J. Middlebrook skillfully weaves together the complex story of the international defense of labor rights across the levels of state sovereignty, state-to-state trade negotiations, workers’ campaigns, and practical results. Through meticulous examination of original sources and interviews with direct participants he creates a rare, balanced account of the contending positions of state and nonstate actors in the United States and Mexico. His insightful analysis illuminates this politically salient history and the continuing contestation over the international defense of workers' rights. -- Sandra Polaski, former Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization


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