Australasian Political Studies Association Conference 2003
Hosted by the School of Government
University of Tasmania

Political Economy Stream

Democratizing global production: the promise of certification and labelling

Fred Gale
School of Government,
University of Tasmania

Abstract:

Until the 1970s, production and consumption largely took place within the borders of nation states. Citizens exercised a level of control over the structure of national production through their capacity to vote, lobby and engage in industrial action. Sectors deemed vital were nationalised, unions exerted influence in the workplace, and business was regulated to achieve positive social and environmental outcomes.

In an era of globalisation, these democratic controls on production have been reduced. Citizen demands for government regulation are ignored. Instead, governments privatise national industries, dismantle protective union legislation and deregulate the business environment in an effort to be competitive and attract global investment. Business is increasingly escaping the social and environmental control of individual nation states and–in the absence of effective global political institutions–of all nation states.

While some argue that this turn of events requires that production be re-nationalised, there is little evidence that this is feasible. Thus, we must look elsewhere for opportunities to democratise global production. Certification and labelling schemes demonstrate a capacity to do this by enlisting the power of the market itself. Consumers, recruited to certification and labelling schemes challenge companies to produce products to high social and environmental standards. Certification and labelling schemes are operating in several product sectors: timber, fish, coffee, tourism and agriculture crops. The paper analyses several existing schemes to demonstrate how production is being democratised within some industry sectors.