Abstract
Elites transform the Global South’s raw materials into capital via convoluted and deceptive supply chains and in a way that does little to promote development. The three cases presented in this chapter demonstrate how commonplace products (iPhones, chocolate, and nuclear energy) have questionable production processes and supply chains. From child labour and conflict minerals in Africa to tax evasion in Ireland, these products expose how the Global South carries a disproportionate human, economic, and environmental burden in the global market and how the Global South is not enriched via these interactions. Instead, the conversion of raw materials to capital could be fuelling underdevelopment. The cases also show how countries in the semi-periphery are complicit in this exploitation.
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van der Merwe, J., Dodd, N. (2019). The Government-Business-Media Complex and Global Chains of Dispossession. In: The Political Economy of Underdevelopment in the Global South. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05096-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05096-2_6
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