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 the Pacific Rim.

Jill Jensen is Visiting Assistant Professor in labour studies at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Assistant Director of the Center for Global Workers' Rights. Her research focuses on the history of U.S. relations with the International Labour Organization and the ILO's efforts to formulate and monitor global labour standards. Nelson Lichtenstein is MacArthur Foundation Professor in History at the University of California in Santa Barbara, USA. His publications include The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business and State of the Union: A Century of American Labor.