The global political economy evolves around shifting theoretical and conceptual paradigms that simultaneously reflect the ongoing globalization process involving several actors and processes. Thus the complexity of linking the theory and practice of global political economy increases, and this, in return, accelerates further the in-depth inquiries in this interdisciplinary field of research such as discussions around global governance, international economic system, international trade, global value chains, and international development among several others. More specifically, in parallel with these developments, underlying trends in the global economy point to vast developments in both theory and practice of foreign direct investment (hereinafter FDI) across regions, countries and sectors as well, which form the main focus point of this chapter which will attempt to address the complexity of linking theory with actual practice through also involving global value chains with reference to FDI between EU member states and Turkey.
The domestic political economy of upgrading in global value chains: how politics shapes pathways for upgrading in Rwanda’s coffee sector*