Supervisor: Dr. Robert O'Brien 

Dissertation Title: 'Actors and Entanglements in Global Governance: The ILO in sub-Saharan Africa'

Project Summary: My dissertation examines the International Labour Organization’s involvement in African development assistance programmes. The literature on international organizations in IR rarely analyzes the engagements with marginal actors in the global political economy outside of their participation in or exclusion from decision-making at elite levels. As a result, debates about global governance often obscure or overlook the politics involved in the practice of governance on the ground. This research contributes to filling this gap in the literature by examining historical patterns of engagements between the ILO and African governments, trade unions, and other civil society organizations in the practice of ILO development assistance. The project covers the period from 1919-present, but focuses primarily on activity after 1960, examining ILO programmes across four issue areas: forced labour; employment, skills, and training policy; cooperatives and social protection; and workers’ education. These engagements help to demonstrate that governance is embedded in complex, contradictory ways in various levels of political contestation. The project ultimately shows the importance of various forms of agency exercised by often-overlooked actors in the global political economy.