Fair Trade and Globalization

Date Published:

Abstract:

In recent years, concerns about the impact of trade and investment on human rights and labor standards in developing nations have played an increasingly important role in political debates about globalization in Europe and the United States. In particular, labor unions, human rights groups, and other NGOs have raised alarms about "sweatshops" in developing nations that produce items for export (typically sewn or woven textile products) and are characterized by low wages, long working hours, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, child labor, and prohibitions against organization among workers. Many people fear that globalization has contributed to the spread of sweatshop production in developing countries as they compete to establish new export sectors and attract investment from footloose multinational firms (see Rodrik 1996; Klein 2000). The most adamant critics of globalization argue that this is part of a general "race to the bottom" in social and environmental standards in developing countries. These types of concerns have contributed to what appears to be a significant and growing political backlash against globalization in many western nations, mobilizing local activist groups and transnational NGOs and stirring uneasiness among voters about future trade agreements.