Transnational Standards and Empty Spaces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Bartley
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Making Sense

A vast new world of transnational standards has emerged, covering issues from human rights to sustainability to food safety. This chapter develops a framework for making sense of this new global order. It is tempting to imagine that global rules can and should bypass corrupt, incapacitated, or illegitimate governments in poor and middle-income countries. This assumption must be rejected if we want to understand the consequences of global rules and the prospects for improvement. After showing how a combination of social movements, global production networks, and neoliberalism gave rise to transnational private regulation, the chapter builds the foundations for the comparative approach of this book. The book’s comparative analysis of land and labor in Indonesia and China sheds light on two key fields of transnational governance, their implications in democratic and authoritarian settings, and the problems of governing the global economy through private regulation.

A Substantive Theory of Transnational Governance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Bartley
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Standards ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
Substantive Theory ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Differential Performance

Social scientists have theorized the rise of transnational private authority, but knowledge about its consequences remains sparse and fragmented. This chapter builds from a critique of “empty spaces” imagery in several leading paradigms to a new theory of transnational governance. Rules and assurances are increasingly flowing through global production networks, but these flows are channeled and reconfigured by domestic governance in a variety of ways. Abstracting from the case studies in this book, a series of theoretical propositions specify the likely outcomes of private regulation, the influence of domestic governance, the special significance of territory and rights, and several ways in which the content of rules shapes their implementation. As such, this theory proposes an explanation for differences across places, fields, and issues, including the differential performance of labor and environmental standards.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Standards

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter charts the contribution of economic geography to the field of research concerned with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and standards. Following explanation of the historical and political–economic context of CSR and the rise of codes and standards as tools in the private regulation of the global economy, it places the critical spotlight on studies of ethical and labour standards in global supply chains. Within this area, the different critical insights into CSR and standards offered by the global value chains and global production networks frameworks, as well as postcolonial critique, theories of governmentality, and sociologies of standards and marketization, are summarized and debated. Finally, the chapter discusses some of the recent economic, geographical, and regulatory challenges to the ways in which CSR and standards are operating and transforming in practice, from the global economic downturn to the influence of ‘rising powers’ and emerging economies.

The Economic Fitness of Nations in Value Added. 2000-2014

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Cervantes-Martinez ◽  
Jorge Villaseñor-Becerra
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Capita

Abstract In this paper, we explore the Economic Fitness (EF) indicator from the World Bank Database that measures nations' level of international competitiveness. At the same time, using input-output tables, we present our estimations of this new metric, replacing the revealed comparative advantages (RCA) from exports in gross value with an estimate of RCA from exports in domestic value-added (DVA). We find that between 1995 and 2015, there is a positive relationship between Economic Fitness and per capita GDP for low and middle-income countries. Besides, from 2000 to 2014, there has been a widening gap between global exports in gross value and exports in value-added; we also show that the estimations of the EF using the domestic value-added content of exports change significantly. Suggesting that, given the increasing levels of productive links at the international level, the competitiveness of nations is also conditioned by the way they participate in global production networks.

Rules without Rights

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Bartley
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Labor Exploitation ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
The World

Activists have exposed startling forms of labor exploitation and environmental degradation in global industries, leading many large retailers and brands to adopt standards for fairness and sustainability. This book is about the idea that transnational corporations can push these rules through their global supply chains, and in effect, pull factories, forests, and farms out of their local contexts and up to global best practices. For many scholars and practitioners, this kind of private regulation and global standard-setting can provide an alternative to regulation by territorially bound, gridlocked, or incapacitated nation states, potentially improving environments and working conditions around the world and protecting the rights of exploited workers, impoverished farmers, and marginalized communities. But can private, voluntary rules actually create meaningful forms of regulation? Are forests and factories around the world being made into sustainable ecosystems and decent workplaces? Can global norms remake local orders? This book provides striking new answers by comparing the private regulation of land and labor in democratic and authoritarian settings. Case studies of sustainable forestry and fair labor standards in Indonesia and China show not only how transnational standards are implemented “on the ground” but also how they are constrained and reconfigured by domestic governance. Combining rich multi-method analyses, a powerful comparative approach, and a new theory of private regulation, this book reveals the contours and contradictions of transnational governance.

Rapid global urbanisation will test governments

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
National Development ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
City Development ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Social Opportunities

Subject City fragility. Significance Urbanisation can bring employment, educational and social opportunities to many people, but rapid urbanisation, especially in lower and middle-income countries, is creating areas where public service provision and economic opportunity are low and susceptibility to security threats is high. Impacts Lower and middle-income countries are set to see the bulk of the world’s urbanisation over the coming decades. City development will become synonymous with national development. Connecting urban communities with the global economy will be crucial for prosperity. However, this will require adequate protection from international criminal networks.

scholarly journals Towards a New Industrial Policy for Structural Transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Antonio Andreoni ◽  
Pamela Mondliwa ◽  
Simon Roberts ◽  
Fiona Tregenna
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Lower Productivity ◽  
State Interventions ◽  
Climate Crisis

The South African case provides important insights into the challenges facing middle-income countries as they attempt to build productive capabilities to drive their structural transformation. Despite South Africa having opened up and integrated with the global economy, liberalizing trade and financial markets, it has remained stuck in relatively lower-productivity activities with weak diversification of exports. There continues to be a strong path dependency where markets are structured and shaped by previous investment decisions, state interventions, and entrenched rentieristic interests. Five important lessons emerge. First, premature deindustrialization needs to be arrested and reversed, including the growth and upgrading of the manufacturing sector. Second, the technological changes under way with the digitalization of economic activities mean that developing an industrial ecosystem of firms with effective links to public institutions is critical. Third, inclusive industrialization depends on achieving structural change and dismantling barriers to entry to allow a new system of accumulation to emerge. Fourth, structural transformation depends on a country’s political settlement, specifically whether coalitions of interests that support the organization of industries for long-term investment in capabilities hold sway. Fifth, purposive and coordinated industrial policies are central to achieving these goals and improving the country’s productivity and competitiveness. These are applied to identify key considerations for industrial strategy in South Africa, including confronting concentration and the urgent implications of the climate crisis, to ‘build back better’ from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marching to the beat of a late drummer: Turkey's experience of neoliberal industrialization since 1980

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 83-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erol Taymaz ◽  
Ebru Voyvoda
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Import Substitution ◽  
Domestic Demand ◽  
Moving Target ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Export Orientation ◽  
Sense Of Direction

AbstractThe paper discusses the main characteristics of Turkey's experience of neoliberal industrialization since 1980. We suggest that Turkey has been a “successful follower” in the sense that it has achieved structural transformation in manufacturing output and exports, while its mode of articulation with the global economy has remained intact. To follow our premise, we first provide a comparative overview of the dynamics of growth, productivity, employment and trade in the post-1980 period. We focus on the manufacturing industry because it has evolved as the leading sector in the restructuring of the economy away from domestic demand-oriented import substitution towards export orientation and integration with global production networks. To analyze the direction of structural change in a comparative perspective, we also offer a synopsis of divergent patterns of development in Turkey and Korea. Our brief comparison emphasizes that, while Korea has rapidly changed the structure of its industry and mode of articulation with the world economy with the sense of direction provided by a pro-active state and a far-reaching industrial policy, Turkey has remained a follower ever trying to reach its moving target.

Tobacco addiction

2020 ◽  
pp. 546-554
Author(s):  
Marcus Munafo ◽  
Meryem Grabski
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Use ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Tobacco Addiction ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Impact

Tobacco use is a global concern, due to the associated health risks and the impact of the health consequences of tobacco use on the global economy. It is responsible for over 5 million deaths per year, and even though smoking rates have declined in many high-income countries, they are expected to continue to increase in many low- and middle-income countries. The focus of this chapter is on the epidemiology of tobacco addiction and its biological underpinnings, including the role of genetic influences. The importance of non-nicotine factors in tobacco use is discussed, as well as the use of tobacco in people with mental illness. Finally, currently available treatments for smoking cessation, as well as current policy measures to prevent and decrease tobacco use, are also discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document