Value chains, neoliberalism and development practice: The Indonesian experience

Jeffrey Neilson

Review of International Political Economy, 2014, vol. 21, issue 1, 38-69

Abstract: This paper provides a critical analysis of the emergence of an approach within the practice of international development that adopts a 'value chain' discourse, and traces the conceptual underpinnings of this discourse and practice through its translation from scholarly literature. This practical application of value chain theory has involved the selective application and interpretation, by development practitioners, of key scholarly ideas on global commodity chains, development strategies and industrialization. The specific application of value chains in Indonesian development practice, however, is silent on other aspects of the global value chain framework, such as the role of the state in mediating development strategies, power asymmetries within chains, and world-historical circumstances that shape upgrading possibilities. Despite foundational roots in critical analyses of global capitalism, recent 'value chains for development' applications appear to be perpetuating a neoliberal development agenda, which is facilitating the enhanced penetration of multinational capital into the economy and lives of the rural and urban poor.

Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09692290.2013.809782 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:21:y:2014:i:1:p:38-69

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rrip20

DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2013.809782

Access Statistics for this article

Review of International Political Economy is currently edited by Gregory Chin, Juliet Johnson, Daniel Mügge, Kevin Gallagher, Ilene Grabel and Cornelia Woll

More articles in Review of International Political Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().