Globalization and restructuring of African commodity flows

Abstract

African countries have been incorporated into present processes of economic globalization in a more nuanced way than is usually claimed. Obviously, structural changes and economic growth have not been on the scale seen in other developing country regions, Southeast Asia in particular. However, the increasing global interaction between functionally integrated foci of production and services has also affected Africa in ways that are changing the material foundations of economic and social life on the continent. These processes are not uniform throughout Africa, but affect local, national and regional actors and institutions in diverse and complex ways. In short, globalization in Africa is an uneven process, integrating or re-integrating some localities and communities in global flows of goods, finance and information, while marginalizing or excluding others. The aim of this book is to grasp the diversity of these globalization processes in a systematic way by adopting a common analytical framework, the Global Value Chain approach. Commodity-specific data in two or more countries are taken as a point of departure and the variations and similarities in linkages between local, national, regional and global chain segments are examined. The book is based on original quantitative and qualitative data, collected during fieldwork by the authors.

CONTENTS -- Globalization as a Marginalization of African Economies?/Marianne Nylandsted Larsen and Niels Fold -- Key Concepts and Core Issues in Global Value Chain Analysis/Niels Fold and Marianne Nylandsted Larsen -- The Historical Integration of Africa in the International Food Trade/Benoit Daviron -- The Structural and Spatial Implications of Changes in the Regulation of South Africa’s Citrus Export Chain/Charles Mather -- Changing Food Safety Requirements and the Export of Frech Horticultural Products by Kenyan Smallholders/Michael Friis Jensen -- Are(Market)Stimulants Injurious to Quality? Liberalization, Quality Changes and the Reputation of African Coffee and Cocoa Exports/Niels Fold and Stefano Ponte -- The Global Cotton Market and Cotton Sector Reforms in sub-Saharan Africa/Marianne Nylandsted Larsen -- Segmentation, Governance and Upgrading in Global Clothing Chains: A Mauritian Case Study/Peter Gibbon -- The Logistical Revolution and the Changing Structure of Agriculturally based Commodity Chains in Africa/Poul Ove Pedersen -- Singing in the dark? World Music and Issues of Power and Agency/Tuulikki Pietilä