Contemporary Globalisation and Value Systems: What Gains for Developing Countries?

The focus of this paper is twofold: first, to sketch an analytical framework that may be helpful in underpinning the key conceptual correlates of contemporary Global Value Systems (GVSs), while flagging, very briefly, its historical antecedents and tracking it to its current juncture; second, to reflect on a couple of major economic implications, particularly for developing countries, associated with the current phase of the global production and appropriation regimes, ascendent since the 1970s. There is a large and contentious literature on both these broad themes covering several issues; this paper is neither intended as survey of all the important contributions, nor as an adequate engagement with divergent views in the relevant literature. Rather, our primary objective here is to offer some theoretical reflections from a Marxian political economy perspective, on the above-noted concerns. The first section locates the GVSs within the longue duree of capitalist development; the second section provides a brief overview of the characteristics of contemporary GVSs and its implications for developing countries.