IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/glopol/v15y2024i4p729-739.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The geopolitics of supply chains: EU efforts to ensure security of supply

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Glencross

Abstract

Recently, the EU launched a number of initiatives to prevent the weaponising of supply chains and build resilience against interruptions. This article explores attempts to ensure security of supply in three sectors: semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical raw materials. The analysis contrasts the measures taken in each sector in order to highlight commonalities and explain differences in approach and impact. This comparison of the EU's three principal policies for mitigating supply chain disruption shows the EU has equipped itself with more policy tools in the area of critical raw materials. The argument put forward to explain this prioritisation is that the weaponisation of critical raw materials has already taken place and risks stoking a political backlash against the EU green deal. Consequently, the evidence shows how the EU's geoeconomic hedging marks a move away from an overriding commitment to free markets as part of the postwar liberal international order. Rather, the EU is experimenting with market‐directing mechanisms involving state aid, stockpiling and regulatory interventions in the name of security of supply. This change illustrates not just the fraying of the liberal international trade order but also the part that the EU is playing in this transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Glencross, 2024. "The geopolitics of supply chains: EU efforts to ensure security of supply," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(4), pages 729-739, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:glopol:v:15:y:2024:i:4:p:729-739
    DOI: 10.1111/1758-5899.13388
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13388
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1758-5899.13388?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander Cimprich & Steven B. Young & Dieuwertje Schrijvers & Anthony Y. Ku & Christian Hagelüken & Patrice Christmann & Roderick Eggert & Komal Habib & Atsufumi Hirohata & Alan J. Hurd & Min-Ha Lee , 2023. "The role of industrial actors in the circular economy for critical raw materials: a framework with case studies across a range of industries," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 36(2), pages 301-319, June.
    2. Lloyd, P. J., 2001. "The architecture of the WTO," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 327-353, June.
    3. Mancheri, Nabeel A., 2015. "World trade in rare earths, Chinese export restrictions, and implications," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 262-271.
    4. Bob Hancké & Angela Garcia Calvo, 2022. "Mister Chips goes to Brussels: On the Pros and Cons of a Semiconductor Policy in the EU," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(4), pages 585-593, September.
    5. Shawn Donnelly, 2023. "Semiconductor and ICT Industrial Policy in the US and EU: Geopolitical Threat Responses," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 129-139.
    6. Scott Lavery, 2024. "Rebuilding the fortress? Europe in a changing world economy," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 330-353, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ge, Jianping & Lei, Yalin, 2018. "Resource tax on rare earths in China: Policy evolution and market responses," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 291-297.
    2. Gao, Wang & Wei, Jiajia & Zhang, Hongwei & Zhang, Haizhen, 2024. "The higher-order moments connectedness between rare earth and clean energy markets and the role of geopolitical risk:New insights from a TVP-VAR framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    3. Zhang, Hongwei & Wang, Xinyi & Tang, Jing & Guo, Yaoqi, 2022. "The impact of international rare earth trade competition on global value chain upgrading from the industrial chain perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    4. Iulia Dolganova & Vanessa Bach & Anne Rödl & Martin Kaltschmitt & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2022. "Assessment of Critical Resource Use in Aircraft Manufacturing," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1193-1212, September.
    5. Rini Novrianti Sutardjo Tui & Tsuyoshi Adachi, 2021. "An input - output approach in analyzing Indonesia’s mineral export policy," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 34(1), pages 105-112, April.
    6. Shuai, Jing & Peng, Xinjie & Zhao, Yujia & Wang, Yilan & Xu, Wei & Cheng, Jinhua & Lu, Yang & Wang, Jingjin, 2022. "A dynamic evaluation on the international competitiveness of China's rare earth products: An industrial chain and tech-innovation perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Xia, Qifan & Du, Debin & Cao, Wanpeng & Li, Xiya, 2023. "Who is the core? Reveal the heterogeneity of global rare earth trade structure from the perspective of industrial chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. Li, George Yunxiong & Ascani, Andrea & Iammarino, Simona, 2024. "The material basis of modern technologies. A case study on rare metals," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    9. Zhang, Hongwei & Cao, Hualin & Guo, Yaoqi, 2024. "The time-varying impact of geopolitical relations on rare earth trade networks: What is the role of China's rare earth export restrictions?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    10. Hau, Liya & Zhu, Huiming & Yu, Yang & Yu, Dongwei, 2022. "Time-frequency coherence and quantile causality between trade policy uncertainty and rare earth prices: Evidence from China and the US," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Hou, Wenyu & Liu, Huifang & Wang, Hui & Wu, Fengyang, 2018. "Structure and patterns of the international rare earths trade: A complex network analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 133-142.
    12. Yufeng Chen & Biao Zheng, 2019. "What Happens after the Rare Earth Crisis: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, March.
    13. Luisito Bertinelli & Stéphane Poncin & Benteng Zou, 2019. "The War of Rare Earth Elements: A Dynamic Game Approach," DEM Discussion Paper Series 19-11, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    14. Depraiter, Lisa & Goutte, Stephane, 2023. "The role and challenges of rare earths in the energy transition," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    15. Guo, Qing & Wu, Yanqing, 2024. "Assessing China's rare earth supply security," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    16. Fan, John Hua & Omura, Akihiro & Roca, Eduardo, 2023. "Geopolitics and rare earth metals," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Anastasia Ufimtseva & Jing Li & Daniel M. Shapiro, 2024. "US Critical Mineral Policies and Alliance Strategies in an Age of Geopolitical Rivalry," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    18. Zhang, Hui-min & Feng, Tian-tian & Yang, Yi-sheng, 2022. "Influencing factors and critical path of inter-sector embodied heavy rare earth consumption in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Brown, Maxwell & Eggert, Roderick, 2018. "Simulating producer responses to selected chinese rare earth policies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 31-48.
    20. Xibo Wang & Jianping Ge & Wendong Wei & Hanshi Li & Chen Wu & Ge Zhu, 2016. "Spatial Dynamics of the Communities and the Role of Major Countries in the International Rare Earths Trade: A Complex Network Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-22, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:glopol:v:15:y:2024:i:4:p:729-739. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.