Decent work and indecent trade agendas: the European Union and ACP countries

Abstract

The European Commission has promised to promote decent work in the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries through pro-poor direct investment and livelihood-creating trade deals. Aligning with the discourse of the International Labour Organisation, the European Commission seeks to achieve ‘fair globalisation’ in which economic growth is translated into decent jobs. Applying a moral economy perspective, however, the article argues that there is a disjuncture between the norms espoused under the Decent Work Agenda and the tangible implications of European interventions in ACP economies. Specifically, Economic Partnership Agreements will have deleterious consequences for the lives of many poorer producers and workers in ACP countries. The provision of Aid for Trade for decent work, moreover, may not deliver meaningful decent work opportunities in ACP countries. In this analysis, the article explores the emergent normativity-outcomes gap in this sphere of European Union external relations.

Keywords:

• Africa
• European Union
• trade
• development
• aid
• normative
• moral economy

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Elizabeth McCaig and Vijay Simha Pandrapragada. Thank you also to the reviewers for their suggestions.

Notes

1. For an in-depth critique of liberal institutionalism, with particular emphasis on Ian Manners' account of ‘normative power’, see Langan (2012).

2. This parallels debates surrounding the conflict of norms and interests in EU studies. As Storey states, however, it is important to avoid a binary reductionism in terms of a ‘norms versus interests’ debate (cited in Langan 2012, p. 263).

3. Uganda would likely retain its 0% tariff access for cut-flowers to European markets for the short to medium term since it is a Least Developed Country (LDC) and would therefore qualify for the Everything But Arms trade arrangement even if it failed to ratify a full EPA.