The explosive rise of export manufacturing in East Asia and the continuing importance of Central America and Mexico in this regard have shifted the center of gravity of world manufacturing from the North Atlantic to the Pacific Rim. This volume of original essays considers how the International Labour Organization has helped generate a set of ideas and practices, past and present, transnational and within a single nation, aimed at advancing social and economic reform in this vast region.

1. A Sea of Difference: The International Labor Organization and the Search for Common Standards, 1919-1950; Leon Fink2. The ILO, Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region: New Solidarities or Internationalism in the National Interest?; Marilyn Lake3. Japan and the 1919 ILO Debates: Over Rights, Representation, and Global Labor Standards; Dorothy Sue Cobble4. Negotiating a World Trade and Employment Charter: The US, the ILO, and the Collapse of the ITO Ideal; Jill Jensen5. The ILO, Asia and the Beginnings of Technical Assistance, 1945-1960; Daniel R. Maul6. Difference's Other: The ILO and 'Women in Developing Countries; Eileen Boris7. Homeworker's Organizing for Recognition and Rights: Can International Standards Assist Them?; Annie Delaney, Jane Tate and Rosaria Burchielli8. The Global Domestic: Mapping 'Decent Work' in International Dialogues; Jennifer N. Fish and Jennifer L. Turner9. The Limits of Human Rights for Labor Rights: A Retrospective Look at the Case of Chile; César F. Rosado Marzán10. Legal Protection of the Right to Old-Age Insurance for Migrant Workers from Rural Areas in China; Changzheng Zhou11. Freedom of Association: A Comparison of China and US Approaches to International Labour Organization Standards; Clifford B. Donn and Minghua Zhao12. The ILO and the Corporate Social Responsibility Regime in East and South Asia; Nelson Lichtenstein