Subcontracted capitalism and the polemical verification of rights: a Rancièrian interpretation of the politics of transnational private governance in Nike’s global production network

Abstract

ABSTRACT While some scholars dismiss transnational private governance instruments, such as codes of conduct, social auditing and monitoring initiatives, as an instrument of corporate power, propaganda and control, others provide a positive assessment. This paper criticises both approaches by applying concepts developed by the French philosopher Jacques Rancière. Against the background of worker-driven discontent in the Nike supply chain, the paper argues why a Rancièrian reading may offer an alternative way of conceptualising the politics of transnational private governance, one that provides a more promising way to ‘ground’ it in both conceptual and empirical terms.