Using a historical institutionalist approach to assess the Cambodian better factories project

One of the perennial preoccupations of international labour law is how and through what mechanisms to develop more efficient labour market institutions. This is also a question that has long vexed the International Labour Organisation (ILO), particularly in relation to labour institutions in poorer countries. Though many of these countries have adopted ILO Conventions and have good laws on the books, their labour institutions - inspectorates, labour tribunals and so on - fail to give effect to these laws. In a new and bold step for the ILO, it has in recent years begun providing "hands on" assistance in a number of poorer countries though the Better Work programme. Instead of only acting as a standard setter or providing technical assistance (the ILO's old game), it has rolled up its sleeves - so to speak - and set up bodies within poor countries to assist with monitoring and other functions of labour institutions. The Cambodian Better Factories Project ('the BFC') was the first of these initiatives, and has formed the basis of subsequent Better Work programmes in Vietnam, Jordan, Haiti, Lesotho, Nicaragua and Indonesia. This paper uses a historical institutionalist approach to assess the BFC in order to understand its achievements and its restrictions in the context of neo-patrimonial governance in Cambodia.