The International Labour Organisation as nodal player on the pitch of networked governance: Shifting the goalposts for migrant workers in Qatar

This article assesses the role of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as a player within the multi-actor sphere of global migration governance. The aim is to analyse the ILO’s leadership within this sphere that is characterised by shifting dynamics between rules-based and rights-based approaches as a result of the multiplication of actors and, given its normative predisposition, the effects on the ILO’s ability to advance migrant workers’ labour rights. The article is premised on the assumption that the promotion of a rights-based approach to labour migration via the ILO’s decent work agenda depends upon the presence of effective and proactive governing institutions as well as appropriate regulation. Contemporary scholarship highlights the importance of organisational networks across multiple sites and levels of policy making in order to achieve change. The situation of the highly precarious migrant workforce involved in the construction of the physical infrastructure for the Football World Cup 2022 in Qatar demonstrates the particular challenges posed by an unfavourable institutional environment. This leads to the argument that stratified organisational networks at the intersection of various institutional nodes are required to keep shifting the goalpost – and the ILO is one such node. The conception of global governance as nodal provides an understanding of how such networks can generate multi-directional and concerted action across various organisational actors and over time, contributing to the advancement of migrants’ labour rights.