scholarly journals Antagonistic governance in South African fruit global production networks: a neo‐Gramscian perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW ALFORD
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks

scholarly journals Southern actors and the governance of labour standards in global production networks: The case of South African fruit and wine

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110333
Author(s):  
Matthew Alford ◽  
Margareet Visser ◽  
Stephanie Barrientos
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Global South ◽  
Trade Association ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Ethical Trade ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Space Of Flows

Recent studies highlight the emergence of standards, including multi-stakeholder initiatives developed and applied within the global South where supplier firms are usually based. This trend has created a complex ethical terrain whereby transnational standards flow through global production networks and intersect with domestic initiatives at places of production. The paper complements global production network analysis with the concepts of ‘space of flows’ and ‘space of places’ and insights from relational economic geography, to examine how some multi-stakeholder initiatives in the global South can shape the broader governance of labour standards in global production networks. The following questions are addressed: How is the governance of labour standards in global production networks shaped by dynamic spatial interactions between actors? What role have diverse Southern multi-stakeholder initiatives played in influencing the governance of South African fruit and wine? We draw on research conducted over seven years into two standards in South Africa, the Wine and Agriculture Ethical Trade Association and Sustainability Initiative of South Africa. Our analysis shows that these two Southern-based multi-stakeholder initiatives contributed to shaping the broader governance of labour standards through dynamic non-linear waves of interaction over time, involving both collaborative and contested exchanges between actors across space of flows and places. We further argue that despite the development of multi-stakeholder initiatives by Southern actors, commercial power asymmetries in global production networks limit their ability to promote significant improvements for producers and workers.

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.

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.

The Invisible Networks of Global Production: Re-Imagining the Global Value Chain in Legal Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-117
Author(s):  
Anna Beckers
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Global Value Chain ◽  
Commodity Chain ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Global Production Network

AbstractReviewing the burgeoning legal scholarship on global value chains to delineate the legal image of the global value chain and then comparing this legal image with images on global production in neighbouring social sciences research, in particular the Global Commodity Chain/Global Value Chain and the Global Production Network approach, this article reveals that legal research strongly aligns with the value chain image, but takes less account of the production-centric network image. The article then outlines a research agenda for legal research that departs from a network perspective on global production. To that end, it proposes that re-imagining the law in a world of global production networks requires a focus in legal research on the legal construction of global production and its infrastructure and a stronger contextualization of governance obligations and liability rules in the light of the issue-specific legal rules that apply to said infrastructure.

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