Trade as an Instrument of Dominance

The Latin American Experience

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4737599
AutoresMarjorie Woodford Bray (California State University Los Angeles, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen26
Número5
Páginas55-74
Fecha de publicación1999-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLatin American Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0094-582X • E-ISSN: 1552-678X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0094582x9902600504
OpenAlexW1974716762
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas22

The present conjuncture of world capitalism is characterized by the globalization of the international economy, which has reached a new stage that Donald Bray and I (1998) have called transperialism, in large part as the result of technological advances that permit instantaneous communication and thus even greater rationalization of production. Nevertheless, persistent regional differences permit the enterprises of the metropolitan areas to continue to dominate the system, taking advantage of the low-wage labor markets of the periphery. The role of the international structures of finance and investment controlled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the maintenance of this hegemony has been widely studied and discussed. The history of trade policy, negotiated among states and serving the interests of the elites of the dominant ones, has been given less attention. In order to understand current developments it is necessary to put them into the context of past relationships. In the current international economic climate, the neoliberal model, which calls for open economies, is the dominant paradigm even in many nations of the Third World. Under the guise of free trade, a new structure of domination, the World Trade Organization (WTO), has been created that will make economic policy even less responsive to the interests of the smaller, weaker nations in the international system and of the ordinary citizens of the currently dominant nations as exercised by their legislatures. In addition, regional trade blocs being created in the western hemisphere will assist capital from the dominant economies in taking advantage of the low-wage economies of the region. Pursuing the policies of this new stage, most countries of Latin America have reduced their tariffs and are seeking to become partners in free-trade agreements and common markets with each other and with industrialized nations. Similar policies have been attempted in the past with less than salutary results

Capitalism · Dominance (genetics) · Economics · Economy · Free trade · Globalization · Hegemony · International economics · International trade · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · World economy · Economic Theory and Policy