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Interaction between individuals and states is considered a distinctive character of domestic politics, while international politics is the 'realm of states'. However, it is becoming more common to encounter loci where both states and individuals interact at the international level, such as in the cases of the Special Tribunals for Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Former Yugoslavia as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Within the International Relations (IR) theory panorama, one would expect the English School of International Relations (ES) to have the theoretical and analytical tools to conceptualize synergies between states and individuals, but this is not evident. This article asks, how does the interaction between individuals and states take place in the ES? We argue that this interaction takes place via 'contact points', defined as those international bodies that bring together states and non-state actors, be they individuals or groups, interacting on equal grounds in terms of rights and responsibilities towards each other. The notion of 'contact point' is developed inductively by focusing on the Office of the Ombudsperson to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. This research has theoretical implications. We aim to refine, sharpen and advance both the ES's theoretical and analytical architecture. The contribution we seek to make is one that will better equip ES scholars to conceptualize and analyse those secondary institutions that allow states and individuals to enjoy rights and duties equally. By so doing, we will make possible for the ES to provide a more fine-grained account for these synergies than other IR theories. The notion of 'contact point' does set a new agenda for the ES, since interactions between individuals and states are likely to become a constitutive essence of world politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas a number of studies have been conducted to investigate causal relations between individual conditions (e.g. trade relations and labour standards), there is a lack of consensus among practitioners and scholars about the conditions that favour or cause labour standards improvements and, specifically, it is still unclear whether the increasing pervasiveness of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) is conducive to enhancing labour conditions. The aim of this study is to shed light on whether labour clauses in FTAs are conducive to better labour standard practices, whether the content of a clause makes a difference, and whether changes have anything to do with other (external) pressures that play a role in changing labour standards. The main argument of the article is that FTAs do not play a determinant role in improving labour standards in signatory states. The analysis is done by looking at 13 FTAs signed by the United States with 19 countries. The United States is chosen because of its relatively extensive collection of FTAs including different conditions on labour standards. The empirical dataset is analysed with Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method, which permits to trace the combined effect of independent variables rather than to focus on the direct and individual causality with each of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]