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27 Or. Rev. Int'l L. 61 (2026)
Between Flexibility and Fragmented Authoritarianism: Global China, Labor Rights, and the Future of International Human Rights Law

handle is hein.journals/porril27 and id is 65 raw text is: KIBROM TEWELDEBIRHAN* Between Flexibility and Fragmented Authoritarianism: Global China, Labor Rights, and the Future of International Human Rights Law Abstract .............................................................................................. 62 Introdu ction ................................................................................ . 63 I. Conceptual Framework: Neoliberalism, Bargaining Power, and International Human Rights ............................. 69 A. Globalization, Neoliberal Flexibility, and Power............ 70 * Assistant Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware Law School. Research Fellow, Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program. I want to thank the participants at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Faculty Workshop and Widener University Delaware Law School for their helpful comments and suggestions. A substantial part of this is based on my SJD (doctoral) thesis titled Labor After the Developmental State: Law, State, and Chinese Enterprises in the African Copperbelt (Harvard Law School, 2022). I want to thank William Alford, Duncan Kennedy, Robert Bates, Benjamin Sachs, and Jane Bestor for their guidance during my SJD studies and their comments on the thesis. A different iteration of this Article was presented at Harvard Law School SJD Colloquium, Weatherhead Center of International Affairs, the African International Economic Law Network (Nairobi), Shanghai Conference on Africa and Asia, and Harvard's Africa Development Conference. I thank the participants of these events for their thoughtful comments. I am grateful for the assistance of Eustace En'goma, Muna Ndulo, Marja Hinfelaar, Opa Kapijimpanga, and the staff at Southern Africa Institute for Policy and Research (Lusaka), Harvard Law School Graduate Program, my colleagues at Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program, reference librarians at Harvard Law School Library (Teresa Saint-Amour, Aslihan Bulut, Stephan Wiles) and Delaware Law School Library, St. Augustine University of Tanzania, Mineworkers Union of Zambia, Zambia Confederation of Trade Unions, National Archives of Zambia for their assistance and encouragement during field research for part of this Article. Luwam Dirar, James Gathi, and Jeremy Gould generously shared their thoughts and directed me to helpful sources. I thank Ellie Andrews, Jenny Wilder, and the student editors at the Oregon Review of International Law for their superb editorial assistance and thoughtful comments. Harvard Law School Graduate Program, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School provided financial support for field research to collect information that is included in this Article. [61]