The New ILO in Sub-Saharan Africa: Action, Agency, and Ordering Under Global Production

This article examines recent changes in the role played by the International Labour Organization in Sub-Saharan Africa in historical perspective. It argues that the globalization of production has created a novel set of political and economic problems surrounding work and labour in Africa. The ILO’s activities in Africa have been an important means by which African states and organized labour, along with the ILO itself, have adapted themselves to these challenges. These programmes have opened up new opportunities for action by states and workers in Africa, but these have at times been used in exclusionary ways. This argument is advanced by first considering the historical trajectory of the ILO’s activities in Africa and then by examining two new programmes, the Decent Work Country Programmes initiative and Better Work Lesotho, in more detail