ANIBRA ELI KOJO 3210921

MA International Relations: Global Governance and Social Theory

Spring Term 2020
Course: International Political Economy
Instructor: Dr. Michael Schwan

Reading Report 4
Selwyn, Benjamin, Bettina Musiolek and Artemisa Ijarja (2019): Making a global
poverty chain: foot-wear production and gendered labor exploitation in Eastern and
Central Europe, Review of International Political Economy, online first, 1-27

1. What is the main argument of the text and how is it developed? Summarize briefly!

Selwyn, Benjamin, Bettina Musiolek and Artemisa Ijarja show how the Eastern and Central

European export footwear sector has experienced economic and social downgrading and

immiserating growth over the last three decades. They use empirical data do show how countries

in Central and Eastern Europe's (ECE) have their footwear sector fundamentally based on

exploitation of women. The article also illuminates the gendered capital-labor relations that

underpin the economic sector expansion, and also reconceptualises the immiserating growth in

more specific, class-relational terms—as processes of economic expansion based upon labor

force exploitation and impoverishment. The article, shows how a constellation of the World Bank

and the EU, Western European-based lead firms and ECE exporting firms, and ECE national

states have created a situation where economic and social downgrading and immiserating growth

have become the ECE footwear sector’s principal strategy of competitive capital accumulation.

Also Selwyn et al. (2019) in the article adopts and furthers the global poverty chain (GPC)

approach by providing a gendered political economy analysis to investigate and explain how

employment in GVCs can be poverty-inducing. They show how the global poverty chain is
ANIBRA ELI KOJO 3210921

relevant to the other world regions when previously it focused on only the countries called the

global south. The authors go on to assert that even though much of the GVC\GPN literature holds

that global integration through ‘upgrading’ represents the best growth strategies for developing

world regions, it is also the case that economic and social downgrading represents strategies for

capital accumulation. They also talk about global integration generating efficiency gains and

dynamic development. They claim that they present upgrading or downgrading as outcomes of

firm or cluster-level strategic decision-making and they do not consider broader sociological and

institutional dynamics, such as the role of states and international institutions in pushing regions

and sectors down particular (downgrading-based) paths of economic integration.

In the end they give two ways to counter these immiserating dynamic. First, might be a long-term

campaign to establish a living wage across global supply chain and lastly, the taxation of

companies operating within supply chains to provide resources for women’s social reproduction,

such as education, training and health services, and child care.

2. Name three core concepts/definitions the author uses/develops in the text.

 Immiserating growth: Immiserating growth is a long-term phenomenon that

occurs when the gain in a country's social welfare arising from economic growth

is more than offset by the loss in such welfare associated with an adverse shift in

the terms of trade. This could occur if the effect of growth of part of the world

economy was to worsen its terms of trade so much that its welfare actually fell. It

could conceivably apply to a group of countries specializing on exporting a

product in inelastic demand. It has been suggested that it could apply to less

developed countries as a group.

ANIBRA ELI KOJO 3210921

 Labor exploitation: It can refer to places of employment that utilize low-skill

workers, often in the developing world, and that are characterized by low wages,

long hours, and unsafe working conditions. In many cases, sweatshops produce

goods on contract for large, multinational enterprises, who then sell those goods to

customers in wealthier societies. In this article it showed how women were super

exploited and the wages did not cover workers’ social reproductive needs.

 Global Poverty Chain approach: The GPC approach theorises how northern

lead firms' chain governance strategies represent mechanisms of value capture,

which often generate highly exploited and impoverished labor forces at the base of

supply chains across the global south. In this article the authors try to show how

the concept is relevant beyond the global south, and they provide a gendered

political economy perspective from which to conduct GPC analysis.

3. Quote at least two passages that you think are essential/interesting.

 The proposals for cooperative action, were however blocked by US opposition.

I believe this phrase sums up the whole hegemonic interest behind the globalisation of the

financial markets and shows how powerful the US financial systems were. The US didnt

approve the cooperative strategies because it was against its national interest. This also led to

a new liberal approach in the financial system.

 It is widely recognized, however, that states can play a central role in preventing

international financial panics, and thus preserving an open financial order, through

lender of last resort activity and through prudential regulation and supervision of

financial markets.
ANIBRA ELI KOJO 3210921

As a you will see from my questions below, I believe the role of the state is not to prevent crisis

but clean up after the crisis has occured or preserve the financial order after the crisis has

occured. I like this statement because i believe it lays out the exact role states play during

financial crisis.

4. Which questions for further discussion come to your mind after reading the text?

 I dont deny the fact that states have to play in the globalisation of financial markets but

will this be possible without technological advancement?

 To what extent were states able to prevent financial crisis that occured. Will I be right to

say states played the sweeper role by clearing the mess that occured as a result of the

crisis but not really prevent the occurence?

 Will it be right to limit the behaviour of states to the hegemonic interests of the US and

Britian since they played major roles in the globalisation of the financial markets even

though i believe it was mainly for their benefit. Will we have this level of globalisation if

not for their involvement?

 Can we say the failed cooperative initatives if approved by the US in the early 1970s

would have been a turning point in the financial markets.

 Did states really have a choice when it came to implementing more control on financial

markets since doing that would not be to their benefits?