On the prospects of catching-up in the 21st Century: three critical assessments

Description

All the contributors of the book agree that catching up needs an industrial base, and a common sense that this goal has to be realized runs through the book. In my presentation I focus on the enormous economic and political prerequisites for such a strategy present some alarming empirical facts in this respect. My conclusion is that the chances for “autonomous industrialization”, as Ghosh puts it, or “industrial emancipation” which the dependency thinkers had in mind, is contingent on many factors and far more difficult to achieve than it was 100 or even 50 years ago. Given that, I discuss three critical issues concerning the idea and prospects of catching-up in the 21st century: firstly, the exclusive focus on export-oriented industrialization and export-led growth; secondly, the conceptualizing of catching-up as purely national endeavor and, thirdly, its political underpinnings. The presentation concludes with the question of alternative paths of catching-up.

Period	08 Sept 2017
Event title	Mapping a New World Order. The Rest Beyond the West
Event type	Other
Location	GermanyShow on map