Abstract
This article presents a cross-national comparative analysis of the relationship between different dimensions of globalization and modern slavery. It argues that both the economic and political dimensions of globalization are strongly associated with lower levels of slavery prevalence. Recent estimates suggest there are more than 40 million people in some form of slavery and the United Nations has committed the world to ending this problem by 2030. Some argue that a race to the bottom, and the structure of economic incentives associated with globalization have contributed to the problem of modern slavery. Others argue that increased openness and the diffusion of values, the spread of democratic forms of rule, and the advance of human rights that come with globalization limit modern slavery. This article presents a preliminary empirical analysis of these arguments using data on slavery prevalence across more than 60 countries and various measures of economic and political globalization. The analysis shows that economic measures of globalization and higher levels of democracy are significantly related to lower levels of slavery prevalence, even after controlling for armed conflict and regional differentiation. In order to support these findings, the article examines the international law on slavery, definitions and conceptions of modern slavery, and comparative data on slavery prevalence modeled across indicators of economic and political globalization. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the trade-offs between globalization and modern slavery.
Highlights
Globalization is a contested economic, social, and political phenomenon whose key features include the breaking down of traditional territorial borders, the redefinition of regions, new divisions of labour and the distribution of power, and a changing role of culture (Hermann, 2010)
There are a series of socio-economic factors that can increase the probability of any individual to be trafficked or fall into slavery, while at the structural level, factors include poor governance, absence of accountability mechanisms, and weak rule of law, as well as long term stable economic factors (IOM, 2018, p. 7). This combination of economic and political factors is at the heart of the analysis presented in this article, which aligns with studies that seek to explain the variation in other human rights issues
Reading down the first column shows that the prevalence of slavery is significantly correlated with worker rights protection, the overall level of globalisation, democracy, human rights, economic development, human rights and armed conflict
Summary
Globalization is a contested economic, social, and political phenomenon whose key features include the breaking down of traditional territorial borders, the redefinition of regions, new divisions of labour and the distribution of power, and a changing role of culture (Hermann, 2010). Using the 2016 and 2018 country level estimates of slavery prevalence provided by the ILO and Walk Free Foundation, this article provides the first systematic cross-national analysis of the relationships between different dimensions of globalization and modern slavery. As a cross check on these prevalence data, we use the worker protection scale developed by Cingranelli and Richards coded from the US State Department annual country reports The coding for this variable includes: (1) the right of association; (2) the right to organize and bargain collectively; (3) a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsive labour; (4) a minimum age for the employment of children; and (5) acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, occupational health and safety
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