CFP: DSA 2019 – Global value chains, the state and the political economy of development

Along with Khalid Nadvi and Pritish Behuria, I am organising sessions on “Global value  chains, the state and the political economy of development” for the Development Studies Association 2019 Annual Conference (Milton Keynes, UK, 19th – 21st June).

This is a research agenda with growing momentum and one we are looking forward to pushing further.

Abstracts are due by 16th January 2019 and can be submitted here.

Cross-border flows of goods and services are increasingly organised through global value chains (GVCs) and global production networks (GPNs). Consequently, economic, social (e.g. for labour) and/or environmental development outcomes have been analysed through forms of participation within GVCs/GPNs and the prospects for greater value capture within such chains/networks.

Yet, relatively little attention has been devoted to the role and influence of national state policies in shaping GVCs/GPNs and their developmental outcomes. At the same time, more state-centric approaches, such as political settlements analysis, have generated insights into the political economy of development, including around globally-traded goods. However, such approaches often lack a transnational dimension.

This panel invites papers focused on a long-standing issue in the political economy of development – the bridge between multi-scalar analytical approaches, in this case global VC/PN frameworks and national state-centric approaches. With a potential retreat from a more open international economic environment, and the partial return of the state, this nexus is more pertinent than ever. Abstract submissions are invited on topics including, but not limited to:

• How do different forms of state-business relations and political settlements shape engagement with value chains?

• What forms of industrial/productive sector policy are possible in an era of GVCs?

• When and how can states regulate engagements with GVCs?

• How do state-owned enterprises shape value chains?

• How does the role of the state as a buyer, through public procurement, shape value chains?

• How does positioning within value chains in turn shape state policy scope and choice?