Labour rights violations and poor working conditions are rife in global production networks (GPNs). Until now research on labour governance in GPNs has been dominated by private measures. We ignite discussions on the role of the state in governing labour conditions in GPNs by focusing on a less well-known public governance instrument – socially responsible public procurement (SRPP). SRPP is the inclusion of social criteria on working conditions in public procurement contracts. Revised European Union (EU) directives on public procurement widened the space to exercise SRPP including for outsourced and offshored production. Understanding how states can exercise SRPP as a labour governance instrument requires a conceptualization of state powers. We present a conceptualization of the hybrid regulator-buyer state and show that an effective SRPP approach requires both strong regulator powers, differentiated as legislative, institutional, judicial and discursive, and buyer power which depend on purchasing volumes and supplier and market characteristics.

中文翻译：

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构想欧盟的监管者-买方国家，以在全球生产网络中实施对社会负责的公共采购

侵犯劳工权利和恶劣的工作条件在全球生产网络 (GPN) 中普遍存在。迄今为止，对 GPN 中劳动治理的研究一直由私人措施主导。我们通过关注一个鲜为人知的公共治理工具——社会责任公共采购 (SRPP)，引发了关于国家在 GPN 中管理劳动条件的作用的讨论。SRPP 是在公共采购合同中纳入关于工作条件的社会标准。修订后的欧盟 (EU) 公共采购指令扩大了实施 SRPP 的空间，包括外包和离岸生产。了解国家如何将 SRPP 作为劳工治理工具行使需要对国家权力进行概念化。