1,720,973 research outputs found
Transient global value chains and preferential trade agreements:Rules of origin in US trade agreements with Jordan and Egypt
Get PDFThe impact of rules of origin (RoOs) in limiting the ability of developing countries to benefit from preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has been highlighted in the literature. One of the few US trade agreements that deviate permanently from the restrictive 'yarn forward' RoOs in textile and garments is the qualifying industrial zone (QIZ) agreement with Egypt and Jordan and the subsequent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Jordan. The more flexible RoOs of these agreements have contributed to a dramatic increase in exports especially from Jordan. Examining this through the lenses of global value chains (GVCs), this paper argues that these RoOs facilitated the integration of the two locations, particularly Jordan, in the highly contingent transient GVCs of Asian producers raising questions about the developmental impacts of such integration.</p
Trade regimes and global production networks. The case of the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs) in Egypt and Jordan
No full textThe fragmentation and dispersion of productive activities and the emergence of global production networks (GPNs) as key organisational structures for managing production and trade at a global scale has received growing attention over the past two decades. The role of trade policy and preferential trade regimes in shaping these production networks has been documented in this literature. Our understanding of the relationship between GPNs and trade regimes remains, however, underdeveloped. By examining the case of a trade agreement implemented in Egypt and Jordan as part of the "Middle East Peace Process", this paper highlights how the shifts in global production networks and key actors within these networks were key drivers of this agreement. It also shows how the interaction between GPN dynamics and actors, the configurations of the trade regime, and the distinct locational and regulatory factors in the two countries led to production and trade outcomes that differed from the original objectives of the trade agreement. Through this case, the paper shows that more theoretical and empirical research is needed to unpack the interaction between trade regimes and global production networks at the level of the political economy of these trade regimes and also on how the specific requirements of these regimes interact with GPN dynamics to produce distinct geographies of global flows, production, employment, and development.</p
Syria’s passage to conflict:The end of the "developmental rentier fix" and the consolidation of new elite rule
No full textSyria’s descent into conflict is receiving growing scholarly attention. On their own, the sectarian and geopolitical interpretations of the Syrian conflict provide us with little understanding of the roots of the conflict. Recent studies have started to unpack the political economic and socioeconomics aspects of the conflict, highlighting issues such as the economic reforms in the 2000s, rising inequality, and climate change. This article aims to contribute to this growing literature by placing these issues in a broader analysis of Syria’s political and economic institutions. It argues that the movement of 2011 should be seen as an unorganized protest movement driven by the consolidation and institutionalization of multisectarian elite rule through the economic reform process that started in the 2000s, following the expiration of the "developmental rentier fix" that had ensured authoritarian stability in Syria in earlier decades.</p
Developing Countries and Joint Statement Initiatives at the WTO::Damned if You Join, Damned if You Don't?
No full textLimited progress in World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trade negotiations has led to calls to expand plurilateral processes through which groups of member states can negotiate new agreements. These calls have manifested in Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs), covering issues such as investments and e-commerce. To their proponents, JSIs offer a path to update rules and move towards flexible multilateralism. However, critics argue that JSIs marginalize developing countries and reinforce the dominance of advanced economies. Notwithstanding this criticism, a growing number of developing countries are joining these initiatives. Through data collected from in-depth interviews with officials from 60 WTO member states, this article examines the drivers for growing JSI membership among developing countries. It illustrates that many are joining JSIs to avoid being excluded from agreements that might become binding in the future. While such membership is driven by fear of exclusion and the preference to ‘be in the room’, the negotiation processes of the JSIs often mean that developing countries have little actual influence over the negotiation outcomes. The article concludes that JSIs represent a significant change in the organization of multilateral trade negotiations and enable larger economies to restore their ‘go-it-alone power’ in multilateral trade governance
The uprising of the marginalised: a socio-economic perspective of the Syrian uprising
No full textMore than three years after the outbreak of protests in a number of Arab countries, the role of socio-economic factors in these events is attracting more attention. One of the cases that needs more research is Syria. More than three years into the Syrian uprising, the socio-economic roots of the protest movement that became one of the bloodiest civil conflicts in the history of the Middle East need to be examined. While it has been observed that the Syrian uprising, contrary to some ‘Arab Spring’ countries, has been an uprising of more marginalised social groups with a strong role played by poorer segments in the society, particularly rural and rural-to-urban migrants, the socio-economic explanation for this is still underdeveloped. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of this issue by examining the political and socio-economic compromise that underlined the rule of the Ba’th party in Syria for four decades and unpacking how a combination of internal and external shifts that started in the 1990s and intensified in the 2000s led to the erosion of this compromise, providing the background to the events that began in 2011
Labour in global production networks:Workers in the qualifying industrial zones (QIZs) of Egypt and Jordan
No full textThe role of labour in global production networks (GPNs) requires further theoretical and empirical research. Through the case of the qualifying industrial zones (QIZs) in Egypt and Jordan, I look at how different production and labour control regimes have emerged in the two countries to exploit preferential access to the US market. I analyse how the requirements of US buyers necessitate the building of a flexible, low-cost, geographically mobile production and labour-control regime that can meet the needs of buyers in terms of cost, time to market, fluctuations in demand and shifts in sourcing policy. Migrant labour from Asia and the formation of an associated dormitory labour regime facilitated the establishment of such a regime in Jordan. The social embeddedness of workers in Egypt, by contrast, hindered this process.</p
'Greater chinese' global production networks in the middle east: The rise of the jordanian garment industry
Get PDFThe expansion of 'Greater Chinese' capital from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan into other parts of the developing world is increasingly noted. It is especially prominent in sub-Saharan Africa where Greater Chinese investments, firms and workers are found across a wide range of activities, from the extractive commodity sectors, to infrastructure projects, agriculture and manufacturing. One region where Greater Chinese investment is less well studied is the Middle East. This article focuses on the case of Jordan. Jordan has rapidly emerged as an important supplier of apparel to the United States, a consequence of a distinct preferential trade agreement. The article charts the ways in which this preferential trade agreement has stimulated the shifts of Greater Chinese garment manufacturers to Jordan. Using a global production networks (GPN) framework, and drawing on primary and secondary evidence, it assesses the dynamics behind Greater Chinese investments into Jordan; it also explores the ways in which Greater Chinese garment producers operating in Jordan organize their supply chains and are linked into the global garments GPNs. Finally, it considers the relationship between such capital flows and the influx of Asian migrant workers into the Jordanian export garment sector. © 2013 International Institute of Social Studies
North Africa's export economies and structural fragility: the limits of development through European value chains
No full textOver recent decades, three North African economies – Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt – have been regional pioneers in adopting integration in global value chains as a path to economic development and transformation. Reflecting their geographical proximity to Europe, preferential access to the EU market, and large wage gap between them and European economies, each have emerged as important locations for labour-intensive activities in European value chains in the garments, electronics and automotive sectors. Reflecting the range of incentives offered, the coastal areas in the three economies witnessed a relatively large influx of foreign and domestic investment. As a result, the three economies experienced important economic transformation processes with an increase in their manufacturing sectors, manufacturing jobs and manufactured exports. Notwithstanding this relative success, the reliance on low-cost labour as a source of competitive advantage, in addition to these economies and their firms’ weak position in European value chains, has limited the wider economic and social benefits of this growth and also left these countries in a structurally fragile position vis-à-vis shifts in the European market. This fragility was illustrated in recent years following the global economic crisis and the European debt crisis on one hand, and the protest movements of the Arab Spring on the other. In recent years, the exhaustion of this low-cost platform model has driven a divergence in the three economies with Morocco succeeding in upgrading its position in a number of European value chains while Egypt and Tunisia have been forced to maintain competitiveness though successive currency devaluations
New trade conflicts and the race for technological leadership in the digital economy
No full textOne of the most commented upon elements of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the inclusion of new rules around digital information flows and digital data. In particular, we have seen civil society and technology commentators criticising some of the rules within the agreement – on source code, data localisation and intermediaries – that they suggest will be detrimental to a secure, open and competitive digital sector
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