Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
3.2 INDUSTRIALIZATION
AND THE NEW
INTERNATIONAL
DIVISION OF LABOUR
Globalization and Industrialization
in the Global South
In the last forty years, global work and employment patterns have
undergone a multidimensional restructuring as a result of internation-
alization. Although it can be argued that world labour markets have
been interconnected since the 1500s, the current form of economic glo-
balization has involved a more rapid and intensive interplay between
economic, political and social processes. As multinational corporations
(MNCs) have looked across international borders to recruit cheaper and
more submissive labour forces in a world that is hungry for work, there
has been a significant reshaping of local labour markets in the global
South. Consequently, academics and policymakers alike have argued
that this New International Division of Labour (NIDL) has given rise
to 'unprecedented market expansion and widespread disruption'
(Mittleman, 1995: 273). However, the nature of this disruption and its
impact on development is far from uniform as the intricacies of this
spatial division of labour are complex and contradictory.
In an attempt to unravel the key processes that shape these out-
comes, this chapter explores three key issues that have dominated
academic and policy discourses on the NIDL and development. First, it
examines the transitions in industrialization strategies employed by
countries in the global South since the 1950s, and explores the factors
behind the rise of global export-oriented production. Second, through a
focus on gender, the chapter discusses whether the NIDL offers new
opportunities for workers in the global South or rather exacerbates
