Tackling Modern Slavery, the Ugliest Phenomenon of Our Times : An Invitation to the Ib Scholarly Community

According to Amnesty International and African Research Watch (Afrewatch) in their 2016 report entitled "This is What We Die For" none of the MNCs could fully verify where the cobalt in their products comes from because of the complex nature of the supply chain. Old institutionalism emphasizes that complexities, ambiguities, and contradictions are inherent to the existence of institutions. [...]not only do MNCs play around with institutional rules and requirements, but they can also deliberately manipulate those. Because the multiple institutional contexts in which MNCs operate are fragmented and continuously changing, the interface between the MNC and institutions is inherently flexible and dynamic. MNC supply chains typically span multiple countries and involve several layers - not only individual companies, but entire clusters and industries. [...]slavery can be found in any part of the chain and in any country" (Lake et al., 2016: 6), especially in supply chains which have ubiquitous subcontracting networks. Full paper available at https://doi.org/10.46697/001c.16840