Suchergebnisse

In the current period of a "geoeconomy of competition states", the reintegration into the international division of labour proves to be a decisive moment for the formation of coherent conditions throughout society of capital exploitation for the Central and Eastern European states. The opening towards the global market is futhermore inevitable due to the economic modernization process itself as well as due to the constraint to servicing the "old" and "new" debts. However, the Central and Eastern European states have - often following recommendations by IMF and World Bank experts - liberalized their economies under extraordinarily difficult conditions, extremely fast and to an extent without precedence, and surrendered themselves nearly defenceless to the spontaneously functioning mechanisms of the global market. The peripherization pressure from the global market which imposes the role of low-wage countries and/or extraction economies upon the transformation economies, is hardly opposed by the help from the Western industrialized countries which is dominated by concurring interests, and is insufficient and often misled. There are a lot of indications that the re-integration of the East into the international division of labour will take place in the shadow of socio-economic underdevelopment. (Prokla / FUB)

Abhängigkeiten im globalen Kapitalismus stellen eine historische Kontinuität dar. Wie diese sich seit dem Ende der formalen Kolonialherrschaft in ökonomischer und politischer Hinsicht fortsetzen, hat Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts zunächst vor allem der lateinamerikanische Dependenzansatz prominent diskutiert. Der vorliegende Beitrag argumentiert, dass politische und ökonomische Abhängigkeiten trotz Verschiebungen gegenüber der Ausgangslage der dependenztheoretischen Diskussionen der 1970er Jahre weithin fortbestehen und sich nicht allein über die Betrachtung ökonomischer Kennziffern beschreiben lassen. Gerade auch im Hinblick auf zwei Leerstellen des Dependenzansatzes, der Aneignung von un(ter-) bezahlter Sorge- und Subsistenzarbeit sowie am kostenlosen Zugriff auf Natur, zeigen sich Machtbeziehungen und Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse, auf denen die kapitalistische Weltwirtschaft weiterhin beruht.

Die neuen Technologien werden als Machtfaktor in den internationalen Beziehungen analysiert. Dabei wird nach den Folgen der Mikroelektronik für die Ökonomie der Entwicklungsländer gefragt und eine wirtschaftliche Strategie entwickelt, mit der diese sich weltwirtschaftlich behaupten können. Es wird gezeigt, daß die internationale Arbeitsteilung durch die Mikroelektronik in verschiedenen Branchen erhebliche Veränderungen erfährt; diese führen u. a. dazu, daß die Entwicklungsländer Einbußen bei ihren Standortvorteilen für einige Industriezweige hinnehmen müssen. Als Ausweg wird eine selektive Ankopplung an technologisch führende Länder aufgezeigt. Dazu wird eine gezielte interventionistische Strategie von diesen Ländern erwartet. (HA)

The new international DofL is discussed, based on a review of numerous studies. For the past decade, the West German garment industry has been shifting production abroad, replacing badly paid F labor at home by worse paid F labor in developing countries. Today, automation of the garment industry is technically feasible &, thanks to state assistance, is expected to be competitive by the 1990s. A repatriation of high-technology garment production might take place. Automation will certainly change & reduce employment worldwide. Newly created jobs will probably be occupied by Ms, because of high technical qualification requirements & work protection rules. However, this is not a technical necessity, but a consequence of the specific use made of technology by a society that discriminates against Fs. 32 References. Modified HA

Can the new, Industrie 4.0 production technologies make high-wage locations more competitive in comparison to low-wage locations and even bring back production which was offshored in the past? This Discussion Paper tries to answer this question using data about the division of labor between German and Central Eastern European plants of automotive suppliers. It focuses on three sub-questions: Is there still a technology gap between high-wage and low-wage locations? Which criteria determine the choice of poduction technologies in high-wage and low-wage regions? How important regarding the implementation of modern production technologies are in particular skill structures on the shop floor? The analysis shows that the technology gap between high-wage and low-wage locations has nearly disappeared. Due to the combination of high cost competition and high quality requirements, new production technologies are implemented by companies very quickly across all their global operations. Despite this trend, however, German plants continue to be the preferred sites (at least for German companies) in which new products and production technologies are implemented for the first time. An important reason is the proximity to the research and development centers of car manufacturers and of automotive suppliers as well as to the equipment manufacturers which facilitates cooperation. This lead role of German plants leads to different skill structures on the shop floor when compared with Central Eastern Europe. Even if considering highly automated plants only, German operations deploy less unskilled and semi-skilled workers and focus more on the use of vocational skills. The main reason for this difference is the skills and competences required in the cooperation between production and product development, planning or the equipment manufacturers. This lead role and the ccorresponding skills on the shop floor represent an advantage of German plants in comparison to their Central Eastern European competitors which can be mobilized in the case of Industrie 4.0 concepts, too. The data and research results discussed in this paper were collected and developed in the project "Perspectives of the Automotive Supplier Industry" which was funded by the Hans Böckler
Foundation.

In the current periocl of a »geoeconomy of competition states«, the reintegration into the international division of labour proves to be a clecisive moment for the formation of coherent conclitions throughout society of capital exploitation for the Central ancl Eastern European states. The opening towarcls the global market is funhermore inevitable clue to the economic modernization process itsclf as weil as clue to the constraint to servicing the 'olcl' ancl 'new' clebts. However, the Central ancl Eastern European states have - often following recommenclations by IMF ancl Worlcl Bank experts - liberalizecl lheir economies uncler extraordinarily clifficult conditions, extremely fast and to an extent without precedence, and surrenclered themselves nearly defenceless to the spontaneously funclioning mechanisms of the global market. The peripherization pressure from the global market which imposes the role of low-wage countries and/or extraction economies upon the transformation economies, is hardly opposed by the help from the Western industrializecl countries which is dominated by concurring interests, and is insufficient and often misled. There are a Jot of indications that the re-integration of the East into the international division of labour will take place in the shadow of socio-economic underdevelopment.