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Global Restructuring (global + restructuring)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences80%

Selected Abstracts

The Struggle for a Social Europe: Trade Unions and EMU in Times of Global Restructuring , By Andreas Bieler

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 6 2007
Andrew MathersArticle first published online: 18 OCT 200
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Global Restructuring and Liberalization: Côte d 'Ivoire and the End of the International Cocoa Market?

JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 2 2002
Bruno Losch
The restructuring of the world cocoa market has concluded with the liberalization of the sector in the world's leading producing country, Côte d'Ivoire, clearing the way for domination by an oligopoly of global companies. This paper describes how Côte d'Ivoire's share of world production created an illusion but not the reality of market power. In the 1990s, in the wake of failed attempts to influence the world market, the Ivorian cocoa sector experienced a series of upheavals that were both pivotal to broader changes in the global market and a refiection of them. The converging strategies of new Ivorianfirms and of the major global grinding companies resulted in increased vertical integration in Côte d'Ivoire, exemplified in the development of ,origin grinding '. Later, financial difficulties encountered by Ivorian firms led to global companies taking control. Amongst the results of these changes are a decline in the role of traders, a redefinition of the relationship between grinders and chocolate manufacturers, and a standardization of cocoa quality around an average ,bulk' level. This signals the end of ,the producing countries' and of the global market. [source]

The Political Construction of Agro-Food Liberalization in East Asia: Lessons from the Restructuring of Japanese Dairy Provisioning

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2004
Bill Pritchard
Abstract: This article asserts the significance of national-scale processes in the global restructuring of agro-food systems, especially in East Asia. Using an analysis of the recent restructuring in Japanese dairy provisioning, it documents how this trade remains orchestrated by government-commercial institutions that are organized and regulated to serve domestic agrarian interests. In the context of international disagreement on the future of the liberalization of agricultural trade, the implications of this study are that models of contemporary Asia Pacific agro-food restructuring should emphasize the ongoing importance of national institutions within the organization of trade, rather than assume prematurely the reality of a neoliberal marketplace. [source]

Local discourse and global competition: production experiences in family workshops of the Brianza

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2003
Simone Ghezzi
One of the most important consequences of post-Fordist global restructuring has been the ,deterritorialization' of capital and its increasing geographic expansion. Another and quite different view emphasizes the fact that capitalist activity can be organized by means of localized or territorially based systems of specialized production. In this article my purpose is to show how these two disciplinary discourses are actually not mutually exclusive. Developed local economies are not immune from concerns of deterritorialization, nor should their economic achievement gloss over the glitches that are emerging at the local level due to stiffer global competition. These two aspects become immediately apparent as I illustrate the local discourse that emerges among workshop owners within an industrial district of the Brianza in the Italian region of Lombardy. After a discussion about the origin and the characteristics of this regional economy, I illustrate by way of ethnographic examples how innovation and competitiveness within and outside this industrial district mask forms of exploitation and contradictions amidst family-run workshops. In discursive terms, exploitation is articulated in various ways, but two in particular seem to be most recurrent in the narrative of small entrepreneurs of this region. One is the ideology of ,hard work' and the other, more recently heard of, is the ideology of ,high quality product'. In the brief concluding section I will stress the point that these two discourses emerging from exploitative social relations of production are to be viewed as responses to the concerns regarding the possible deterritorialization of some factories and the increasing competition with crossboundary markets. L'une des plus importantes conséquences de la restructuration mondiale post-fordiste a été la ,déterritorialisation' du capital et son expansion géographique croissante. Une autre opinion, tout à fait différente, avance que l'activité capitaliste peut s'organiser grâce à des systèmes localisés,ou liés à un territoire,de production spécialisée. Cet article a pour but de démontrer que ces deux discours disciplinaires ne sont, en fait, pas mutuellement exclusifs. Les économies locales développées ne sont pas à l'abri de problémes de déterritorialisation, pas plus que leurs résultats économiques ne doivent dissimuler les complications locales qui naissent d'une concurrence mondiale plus dure. Ces deux aspects se dégagent immédiatement du discours local émanant d'artisans du district industriel italien de Brianza en Lombardie. Après avoir présenté l'origine et les caractéristiques de cette économie régionale, l'article illustre par des exemples éthnographiques les façons dont innovation et compétitivité internes et externes à ce district masquent des formes d'exploitation et des contradictions au sein d'entreprises familiales. Logiquement, l'exploitation s'articule de manières diverses, mais deux d'entre eles semblent revenir très souvent dans le récit des petits entrepreneurs locaux. L'une tient à l'idéologie du ,dur labeur' et l'autre, plus récente, à celle du ,produit de qualité supérieure'. Une courte conclusion souligne que ces deux discours issus de relations sociales d'exploitation industrielle doivent être considérés comme des réactions aux préoccupations liées à la déterritorialisation de certaines usines et à la concurrence accrue avec des marchés transfrontaliers. [source]

,Why do they hate us?' Reframing immigration through participatory action research

AREA, Issue 2 2010
Caitlin Cahill
Why do ,they' hate ,us'? is a painful starting point for trying to make sense of the tangled web of global restructuring, politics and racism. My discussion draws upon ,Dreaming of No Judgment', a participatory action research project developed with young people in Salt Lake City, Utah that explores the emotional and economic impacts of stereotypes upon immigrant communities. My analysis focuses upon the disjunctures between the dominant immigration discourse and the everyday experiences of young Latino immigrants. Drawing upon borderlands scholarship, starting with embodied everyday lived experiences and concerns, here I consider how the questions, concerns and feelings of young people offer new openings for reframing immigration. In conclusion, I reflect upon how PAR might be a transformative ,construction site' for reworking and responding to social injustices through the arts. [source]