On Richard M. Locke, The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2013

Comprehensive and realistic analyses of labour standards in the global economy that lead to constructive dialogue about how to improve current conditions in a sustainable way are in very short supply. This might seem surprising, given the heightened interest in the topic generated by two decades of efforts to establish private compliance programmes by corporate actors and a multitude of capability-building initiatives by national governments and international development agencies. Despite these efforts, well-publicized and trenchant campaigns by labour and human rights activists continue to highlight persistent labour abuses that are commonplace in the thousands of consumer-goods export factories that span the globe linked to the relentless drive of global retailers, brands and manufacturers for low-cost production. Richard M. Locke's book, The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy, does a remarkable job in this hotly contested terrain of dissecting the daunting challenges of trying to improve global labour standards, while also outlining sustainable solutions that are supported by a range of key industry actors. From the outset, the book fully embraces the complex reality that we live in a world of global supply chains that link thousands of firms, large and small, foreign and domestic, across multiple cultural and political boundaries. Thus, policies appropriate for national economies simply will not work in global industries, where multinational corporations have become very adept at finding ways to arbitrage highly diverse regulatory environments and labour market conditions to keep costs low and profits high.