Human Rights, Development and Decolonization: The International Labour Organization, 1940-70 (International Labour Organization (ILO) Century Series)

An innovative diplomatic and intellectual history of decolonization, post-colonial nation building and international human rights and development discourses, this study of the role of the ILO during 1940--70 opens up new perspectives on the significance of international organisations as actors in the history of the 20th century. The significance of international organisations as historical actors is one of the least researched aspects 20th century history. Daniel Maul's study of the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) during the core phase of decolonization (1940 to 1970) opens up new perspectives on the topic. Clearly presented, methodologically innovative and based on a wide range of sources, Maul explores makes clear the multifarious ways in which the ILO contributed to the debates which accompanied the dissolution of the European colonial empires and the processes of post-colonial nation-building that followed, both as a political hub and a forum for debate and as an independent actor. Maul takes an innovative look at the history of decolonization, post-colonial nation-building and the enduringly relevant international human rights and development discourses that these processes spawned "Abreak-through in historical scholarship on international politics in the twentieth century in general and on the role of international organizations, human rights and development in particular. It is immensely gratifying to see this excellent book appear in English translation, which makes it available to the large international audience it deserves. A carefully crafted, well-written study, the book will become a standard work for scholars and students in history, political science, human rights and development studies."--Corinna R. Unger, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany 'This excellent book offers fresh insights into the complex field of international social policy. After difficult beginnings the International Labour Organization became 'a world en miniature', within which a new state order with new nations and new ideas, hopes, and claims for freedom and human rights emerged in the decades after World War II. The ILO shaped the process of decolonization in manifold ways and, as Daniel Maul shows on the basis of much new evidence, helped to establish a discourse of global responsibility.' -Andreas Eckert, Humboldt Universitat Berlin, Germany Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-16 Prologue: Separate worlds — The ILO and “native labour”, 1919–39....Pages 17-27 Front Matter....Pages 29-29 “The Promise of a New Earth to Till”: The ILO’S Colonial Work in Exile, 1940–43....Pages 31-58 A Charter for the Colonies: The Colonies at the Philadelphia Conference, 1944....Pages 59-85 A New World with New Ideas: The ILO and the Quest for a Colonial Post-War Order, 1945–48....Pages 86-118 Front Matter....Pages 119-119 Principled Development: The Beginnings of the Technical Assistance Programme (TAP)....Pages 121-151 At Arm’s Length: The ILO and Late Colonial Social Policy....Pages 152-184 Universal Rights? Standard-Setting against the Backdrop of Late Colonialism, Decolonization and the Cold War....Pages 185-223 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 A New Power: The ILO and the Growing Importance of the Developing World in the 1960s....Pages 227-258 An Intellectual Fashion: Human Rights Standards as a Barrier to Development?....Pages 259-285 Conclusion....Pages 286-302 Back Matter....Pages 303-412 This series of scholarly works aims to document and understand the work of the International Labour Organization since its creation by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Gathering together the research of an international network of academics from history, law, economics and sociology, the series looks critically at the role of the ILO at key moments of the twentieth century, and draws attention to the historical dimension of some today's global issues and challenges. By bringing a transnational perspective to the discussion, the publications aim to offer an in-depth understanding of the complex interaction between national and international policies