This research project analyzes the international diffusion of human rights norms and Sustainable Development Goals relating to forced labour and human trafficking in the fisheries industry. In particular, I study the European Union and the International Labour Organization, who are working together in several Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand. I argue that the partnership between these organizations has been highly successful, drawing on the EU's economic leverage, and the ILO's capacity-building expertise. For my research methodology, I use a norm diffusion framework I developed using my previous JSPS grant. I recently published a high-impact article using this research framework in a leading IR journal, JCMS, in which I analyzed the EU’s ‘normative power’: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jcms.13177

I was able to travel to Thailand using project research money to continue with my network-building and academic interviews. I was also able to subsidize research on the EU’s recognition as a normative power in the Japanese media, through analysis of Japanese newspapers and government social media accounts. Finally, in early 2023 my latest Routledge co-edited research monograph was published, which contains my latest findings from this project research:

https://www.routledge.com/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Diffusion-and-Contestation-in-Asia-and/Bacon-Chiba-Ponjaert/p/book/9781032072180

As well as co-editing the book, I also wrote three co-authored chapters.