ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an overview of three concepts that have been widely applied in Economic Geography to explain uneven development against the backdrop of increasingly fragmented global production. Global commodity chains (GCCs) have their roots in world-systems analysis. They serve as an analytical tool to uncover core–periphery relations. Global value chains (GVCs) are marked by a more optimistic perspective on development within the capitalist world-economy, focussing on inter-firm coordination and development through ‘upgrading’. While the GCC and GVC approaches mainly deal with the governance of globalised production, global production networks (GPNs) better reflect the mutual relationship of firms and regions. The chapter explains the central concepts and frameworks that have been developed for GCC/GVC/GPN analysis. In order to better incorporate politics and the state into these branches of research, bringing them closer to the core of political scientific IPE, the chapter also relates GVCs and GPNs to industrial policy.