The modern slavery regime: a critical evaluation

This article sets the context to this special issue: it discusses the background to the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and related legislative and policy instruments and sets out a methodology for comparing modern slavery in a global context. Developing the findings of a joint British Academy–DFID programme, ‘Tackling Slavery, Human Trafficking and Child Labour in Modern Business’, it describes a modern slavery regime defined by the production and implementation of laws and policies at both the international and the domestic level that specifically seeks to address a series of abuses associated with the term ‘modern slavery’. The article interrogates the effectiveness of law and policy in curbing abuse and considers how societal and cultural norms impact on the ways in which modern slavery is conceptualised. It also suggests ways in which contributions to this special issue may advance our understandings of the modern slavery regime and where efforts to address modern slavery fall short.