Between Global Standards and Unequal Treatment

This book investigates the development and impact of racialised labour policies and discourses within the International Labour Organization (ILO) from 1919 to the late 1950s. Drawing on concepts from Critical Race Theory and Postcolonial Theory, it explores how beliefs about racial difference became linked to assumptions about suitability for capitalist production and were articulated internationally by bureaucrats, colonial experts, politicians, employers and trade unionists. While colonial labour forms a central focus, the study also considers the role of independent member states with predominantly non-white populations in Asia and Africa. A detailed case study of India highlights its unique position as the ILO’s only non-sovereign member and traces its transition through decolonisation into a post-colonial state. Offering new insights into the racial foundations of international labour governance, the book brings together Colonial and Global Labour History while advancing debates on racialised knowledge production in international organisations, imperial internationalism, epistemic inequality and the history of knowledge.