In Employment and Human Rights: The International Dimension, Richard Lewis Siegel traces the historical development of the right to employment as well as regional and global efforts to achieve full employment.

In the first section of the book, he examines a wealth of material from English radical pamphlets of the seventeenth century to the recent debates at the United Nations and the International Labor Organization. A wide-ranging cast of characters is introduced, including Louis Blanc, Karl Marx, Pope Leo XIII, Friedrich von Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, William Beveridge, Gosta Rehn, Judith Shklar, and Ralf Dahrendorf.

Intellectual history is placed in the broadest possible contexts of economic, political, and social contexts.

In the second section, Siegel examines global and regional efforts in the present century intended to further the implementation of the right to employment.

He traces the development of international cooperation and examines the reasons for the limited accomplishments, including a lack of consensus about the effectiveness of public policies; the politicization and strongly ideological nature of the international debates; and the turf and policy struggles within and among the highly influential intergovernmental organizations and national governments. Siegel also interviews individuals with recent and current responsibilities for employment and human rights in national governments, transnational interest groups, and intergovernmental organizations.

He presents a lively and realistic picture of the internal processes and competitive efforts of such organizations as the United Nations, the International Labor Organization, the Organization for for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

Employment and Human Rights is a work of intellectual and social history, comparative public policy and international law and organization. It will interest scholars in such fields as social welfare, economics, law, sociology, international relations, human rights and labor and industrial relations. Political scientists will find in this book the development and application of theory relating to international regimes, global policy, and epistemic communities.