ARTICLE
TITLE

Global Commodity Chains and the Production of Surplus-value on a Global Scale: Bringing Back the New International Division of Labour Theory

SUMMARY

This paper offers a critique of mainstream and critical versions of Global Commodity Chain analysis of post-1960s global-economy transformations claiming that they suffer from different types of methodological nationalism. After arguing that the key to overcome their intrinsic problems is to be found in the critical revision of Fröbel et al.'s New International Division of Labour theory, the paper advances a novel account of the structural dynamics of the stratified capitalist world-system developed by Iñigo Carrera (1998). Finally, the paper substantiates its main claims with an analysis of the long-term development of the global semiconductors industry.

PAGES
pp. 247 - 278

 Articles related

Elizabeth Sowers, Paul S. Ciccantell, David A. Smith    

There have been a number of critical historical opportunities for labor to exert power by interrupting long distance flows of commodities at the extraction, processing, and transport stages. This vulnerability has been used by workers in these industries... see more


Donald A. Clelland    

The capitalist world-economy takes the form of an iceberg. The most studied part which appears above the surface is supported by a huge underlying structure that is out of sight. Unlike the iceberg, the world-economy is a dynamic system based on flows of... see more


Mathew C. Mahutga    

In this article, I extend recent macro-comparative empirical research on the developmental implications of global production networks. I draw from theories of commodity/value chains, global production networks and economic sociology to identify three con... see more


Wilma A. Dunaway, Donald A. Clellan    



Elson E. Boles    

Sympathetic critics of world-system analysis contend that its systemic level of abstraction results in one-sided generalizations of systemic change. Unequal exchange theory and commodity chain analysis similarly reduce distinct and historical forms of l... see more