Small States, Big Goals: Why Alliance 8.7 Is Established?

The study explores the establishment and significance of Alliance 8.7, a global coalition aimed at eradicating forced labour, child labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking, with a focus on the role of small states in shaping and benefiting from international alliances. The literature review examines existing scholarship on small states, transnational cooperation, and global governance, emphasizing the constructivist framework. It also discusses the increasing importance of international alliances for small states in a world marked by multiple crises. It uses the Green Deal, the European Union Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive (EUCS3D), and the climate crisis as key examples. The establishment of Alliance 8.7 is examined as a case study to illustrate how small states engage in international cooperation to address social and economic challenges, focusing on the Alliance's objectives, structure, and impact on global efforts to eradicate forced labour, child labour and modern slavery. Every Alliance member country must prepare and comply with policy roadmap documents. Within this study, a comparative content analysis of roadmap documents produced by Alliance 8.7 has been conducted via the MaxQda coding programme to identify patterns and strategies that reflect the policy goals of all 31 member states within the Alliance. The coding shows how patterns differ according to the country being at the global south or global north. In conclusion, the study reflects on the importance of international alliances like Alliance 8.7 for small states in the context of global crises, arguing that these alliances not only offer states a platform for transnational engagement and contribute to more equitable and sustainable global governance but also works as a device for the survival of small states in the global economy.