[Reader-list] Just linkage: The power of positive sanctions

[Patrice Riemens]

(Shri Kamal Nath, the Indian minister for commerce and industry, has
gained a somewhat spurious reputation recently as the hero of the latest,
and collapsed, 'Doha Round' of negotiations on international trade. In
Doha, Shri Kamal Nath had take an 'tough' stance on behalf of the
'emerging economies'  and spiritedly defeated the pretentions of the rich
countries to impose their unilateral terms on the rest of the world.

At home, however, and afaik, Shri Kamal Nath is better known as an
extremely corrupt politician, not to say a criminal character. And in the
Netherlands, he left his mark last year by more or less demanding the
extradition to India on criminal charges of a number of Dutch activists
who had dared to meddle with the labour practices of a big Bangalore
textile exporter. The accusation itself  would probably have gone cold in
court but Shri Kamal Nath must have known full well, and counted on, that
a few month in an Indian remand jail would probably mean the death of
some, if not all of the defendants. Which would have made the near-perfect
argument to his, possibly not yet fully appreciated, contribution to
international trade theory: the obnoxious role of (Western) NGOs as
instruments of protectionism and fresh form of non-tariff barriers
purposedly designed (and appropriately subsidised)in order to wreck the
fledgeling export industries of India - and of the South in general.

Least Shri Kamal Nath's 'theory' would fly - and it already has its
suporters among the more 'robust' economies and economists in the South -
there is fortunatley this timely book on why linkages are a good idea, and
why they'd work if properly applied)


cheers, patrizio and Diiiinooos!
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bwo nettime-l/ Doug Henwood - with usual apps for X-posting.


Michael Pollak reviews Just Linkage. Everyone should check it out. The
leader:

<http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Linkage.html>

Just linkage: The power of positive sanctions

International Trade and Labor Standards: A Proposal for Linkage
Christian Barry and Sanjay G. Reddy
(Columbia University Press, New York: 2008)

by Michael Pollak

This is an important book. It could change how people think. It could
even affect the world?and even if it does neither, it?s kind of a
dazzling argument just by itself. But because it is dense and
maieutic, I?m afraid that very few people will read it if they aren?t
persuaded beforehand that it will be worth their effort. So my goal in
this review will be to summarize the authors? argument in bold strokes
in order to make people curious enough to read it in its full form.

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The full article is really worthwhile. The book most obviously also.