Interdependent and Uneven Development

The primary concern of this book is the geographical implications of global economic change and the uneven impact that processes of globalization and economic interdependence have in local communities. There is no doubt that the structure of capitalism has been drastically reshaped in the late 20th century. The expansion of transnational corporations and transnational capital have been unprecedented in the period since 1945. Flows and transfers of materials, money, and goods are increasingly within and between transnational corporations or contolled by them. Economic restructuring has pushed Third World countries close to the economic brink, dismembered the economic fabric of most of the socialist states of the Second World, and "red-lined", abandoned, and excluded entire places, communities, and social groupings in the so-called First World economies of the OECD. This book aims to throw some light on a range of issues related to globalization, covering such areas as global-local interdependencies and connectivity, industrial districts, and the nature and operation of localities and local labour markets in late 20th century capitalism.