ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I will summarize a critique of theories of the new international division of labour (NIDL), which I originally developed elsewhere (Cohen 1987) before turning directly to the current transnational phase in the division of labour. It is perhaps important to emphasize that my critique of NIDL was not meant as a total refutation of the pioneering work of Ernst (1980), or of Fröbel and his colleagues (1980). Their work was crucial in recognizing that global shifts in production facilities, particularly to Southeast Asia, had fundamentally altered the shape and contours of the contemporary world economy. 1 Indeed, the casual traveller to the ‘golden economies’ of Asia – Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and now China – cannot fail to be impressed by the sudden evidence of modernity and industrialization. Even using the appellation ‘Third World’ of such places sounds absurd, particularly when one is conscious of the transformation of great sections of the old industrial boom cities – like Cleveland, Detroit, Birmingham or Liverpool – into depressed slums and economic wastelands. Clearly, an economic transformation of enormous magnitude is taking place, as investment patterns alter and industrial plant and manufacturing employment becomes spatially redistributed. 2
