SGO4605 – Transformations in the global economy: value chains and production networks

Course content

The global balance of economic power is shifting towards the East and the South, and economic globalization is said to be entering a new phase. What does this mean? How do we, as human geographers, identify such processes, and how can we help to analyze and explain them? This course is based on the global chains and networks perspective, comprising of the global value chains (GVC) approach and the global production networks approach(GPN). We study how analytical frameworks constructed around chains and networks can be used to explain the changes. These approaches build on grand theories on the transformation of economic systems. They also require the development of middle-range theories in order to facilitate explanations in specific analyses. During the course, we will demonstrate and discuss how this can be achieved. The theoretical scope of the course is wide-ranging and forms a basis for human geography research in several different contexts.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

You will be able to:

  • account for the underlying changes supporting the claim that the global balance of economic power is shifting towards the East and the South
  • discuss what separates and unites the value-chains approach and the production-networks approach in analyses of global and regional changes
  • identify strengths and weaknesses of such perspectives as analytical frameworks

Skills

You will have the ability to utilize value chains and production networks approaches in concrete analyses. This means that you will be able to:

  • identify what approaches should be applied in the case of specific issues
  • identify the need to make use of middle-range theory in the case of specific issues
  • suggest what middle-range theories may be beneficial to draw on and illustrate how they can be used

General knowledge

You will acquire:

  • practical experience in using and developing theory

Admission

Students with admission to the programme must each semester register which courses and examinations they wish to sign up for in StudentWeb.

Admission to the course is dependent on admission to the master’s degree programme in human geography.

Students with admission to other relevant master’s degree programmes can apply for admission as guest students.

Teaching

Teaching will be in the form of seminars and will consist of nine ordinary seminar meetings and a final seminar. A seminar meeting will take place once a week. The ordinary meetings will last for three hours and consist of a combination of a short lecture, group work, presentations and discussions. The final seminar will also last for three hours, and will include a summing-up of the course and exam preparation based on students’ requests and questions. Attendance at eight out of a total of ten seminars is compulsory. Students must be well prepared for every meeting. For each ordinary meeting a minimum of 50 pages