Introduction

Abstract

Is the world economy moving toward a new international division of labour? Since the 1970s this question has forced itself into the consciousness of capitalists, workers and state elites in the advanced capitalist countries, as several traditional industries there — textiles, steel, electronics — ran into increasing difficulties due to exports from a number of developing countries. Whereas the latter were formerly confined to specialising in primary commodities, the rise of newly industrialising countries seemed to signal the international redistribution of industrial activities: traditional industries would be relocated to the Third World, while developed countries would specialise in new, high-technology industries.