Industrial Crisis And The Open Economy: Politics, Global Trade And The Textile Industry In The Advanced Economies (international Political Economy Series)

Written in the context of contemporary theoretical debate in international political economy, this book overturns a number of myths about the political economy of trade in one of the oldest areas of industry. In this way the author systematically links the changing characteristics of the trade regime to structural change and adjustment in global industry. He argues that state policy processes, international regimes and the industrial adjustment strategies of firms must be conceptualised as integrated processes of governance cutting across levels of analysis in the global political economy.

Written in the context of contemporary theoretical debate in international political economy, this book overturns a number of myths about the political economy of trade in one of the oldest areas of industry. In this way the author systematically links the changing characteristics of the trade regime to structural change and adjustment in global industry. He argues that state policy processes, international regimes and the industrial adjustment strategies of firms must be conceptualized as integrated processes of governance cutting across levels of analysis in the global political economy.

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Many might expect a book on the contemporary textile industry in highly industrialized countries to be very slender, epitaph-length even. Undaunted, Underhill presents a case-study spanning the 20 years before the end of the Uruguay Round, and distills a novel explanation of the rise and fall of protectionism in the textile and clothing sector. He links both protectionism and eventual deregulation to the same ongoing process of industrial adjustment. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

The Farm War of the early 1980s caused subsequent disruptions in world markets, conflicts among major governments and disagreements in international organizations. The Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, ostensibly devoted to the new issues of globalization, dragged on from 1986 to 1993 in an attempt to end farm-subsidy battles. Wolfe shows how and why battles over agricultural protectionism were largely resolved through the Round, demonstrating that the global economy is not self-regulating; it needs institutions if it is to be stable. The Green Box, a core provision of The Agreement on Agriculture, shows how states can decide that certain types of policies should be immune from international regulation by the new World Trade Organization, an elegant compromise between the imperatives of responding to global change and maintaining democratic accountability. Wolfe's analysis will be helpful for planners of the next set of farm trade talks, due to begin in 1999, while the annotated text of The Agreement on Agriculture will be especially useful in introducing students to the complexities of trade policy List Of Tables And Figure -- Acknowledgements -- List Of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Intersection Of Risk And Trade -- Science In The Regulation Of Risk : A Transatlantic Divide? -- Informal Trade Conflict -- Mad Cows And Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Resolving Differences Over Stinky Cheese And Bothersome Beetles -- Formal Trade Conflict -- The Dispute Over Hormonal Cattle : The Lead Up To Ec-hormones -- Fearing Frankenfoods : Emergence Of Ec-biotech -- Disputing Chlorinated Chickens : The Politics Underpinning Ec-poultry -- Science And The Politics Of Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Conclusions: Lessons For Trade Conflict -- Moving Forward -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography. David J. Hornsby, Senior Lecturer In International Relations, University Of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Includes Bibliographical References. Internationally the trade union movement is finding itself peripheralized by a series of mutually reinforcing processes - the ongoing world economic crisis; the uneven transition from an industrial to an information and service capitalism; the aggressive policies of neoliberalism; the collapse of communism and radical nationalism; the decline of the social-democratic or labour tradition - and by a globalization that undermines the nation-state to which union hopes have long been pinned. The editors argue that this crisis provides an opportunity for labour to recover or reinvent itself. They see this in terms of a labour response to the waves of energy coming from the new global social movements (women, ecology, human rights/democracy, and so on). Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introduction....Pages 1-32 Material Underpinnings: Economic Structure and Industrial Crisis, 1974–84....Pages 33-69 International Competition, Domestic Industrial Crisis, and the Strategies of Firms....Pages 70-100 State, Market Governance, and Particularistic Interests: The Political Economy of Capture....Pages 101-152 Capturing the Global Trade Regime....Pages 153-196 Dismantling Protectionism: The Political Economy of Liberalisation in the Uruguay Round....Pages 197-251 Conclusion: State and Market in Global Textile Trade....Pages 252-257 Back Matter....Pages 258-280 Sri Lanka is hailed internationally for its high standards of education despite rather modest levels of economic growth. Much of this achievement has been underpinned by economic revenues generated by the labours of the plantation community whose own achievements in education fell well below the national norm. In recent years, however, educational participation among this community has increased. Why, and how? A day in the life of Vickneswari provides the starting-point for an analysis of educational progress among the Tamil plantation community. The authors examine various aspects of Japanese financial markets. This analysis is interspersed with the relevant institutional/historical background on Japanese financial markets necessary for the non-specialist. Principal chapters include: an institutional overview; a chapter on the comparative costs of capital (both internationally and among Japanese firms); causes and implications of the high degree of financial intermediation in Japan; and an invaluable analysis of the most recent trends in the Japanese/Asian financial markets This book examines the effect of post-Soviet transitions on current problem solving trends with regards to world capitalism. The fall of Soviet communism left liberal capitalism as the dominant blueprint from which to construct economic development policies. Using Central Europe as an example it is shown that the application of the Western liberal-capitalist model has not been without its difficulties. This book endeavours to place the changes to the global political economy, since 1989, in a theoretical and historical context