ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a progressive industrial policy agenda for the Global South, focusing on Latin America. As neoliberal globalisation wanes, a new global order – shaped by geopolitical tensions, the climate crisis, and technological competition – has revived industrial policy in the Global North, including in the European Union. However, this resurgence prioritises national security and corporate interests, sidelining global equity and sustainability. Latin America, caught in a dual trap of low productivity and high carbon dependence, risks deeper marginalisation within global value chains. The authors propose five pillars for a transformative, cooperative intra- and intercontinental industrial policy: renegotiating foreign investment to ensure local benefits; fostering regional production networks; aligning productive and financial regionalism; asserting digital sovereignty; and reshaping institutional frameworks for inclusive, sustainable development. This agenda envisions an industrial policy model grounded in democratic governance and ecological responsibility, offering a strategic alternative to the militarised, extractive approaches currently dominating industrial resurgence in advanced economies. Support for such a model would be in the interest of the Global North, including the EU, though given the current geopolitical situation, it will primarily build upon South-South cooperation.
