COVID-19 and industrial resilience in the Global South. The case study of the auto parts sector in Mexico.

Author(s):  
Redi Gomis ◽  
Jorge Carrillo ◽  
Bertha Vallejo
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8399
Author(s):  
Sally Adofowaa Mireku ◽  
Zaid Abubakari ◽  
Javier Martinez

Urban blight functions inversely to city development and often leads to cities’ deterioration in terms of physical beauty and functionality. While the underlying causes of urban blight in the context of the global north are mainly known in the literature to be population loss, economic decline, deindustrialisation and suburbanisation, there is a research gap regarding the root causes of urban blight in the global south, specifically in prime areas. Given the differences in the property rights regimes and economic growth trajectories between the global north and south, the underlying reasons for urban blight cannot be assumed to be the same. This study, thus, employed a qualitative method and case study approach to ascertain in-depth contextual reasons and effects for urban blight in a prime area, East Legon, Accra-Ghana. Beyond economic reasons, the study found that socio-cultural practices of landholding and land transfer in Ghana play an essential role in how blighted properties emerge. In the quest to preserve cultural heritage/identity, successors of old family houses (the ancestral roots) do their best to stay in them without selling or redeveloping them. The findings highlight the less obvious but relevant functions that blighted properties play in the city core at the micro level of individual families in fostering social cohesion and alleviating the need to pay higher rents. Thus, in the global south, we conclude that there is a need to pay attention to the less obvious roles that so-called blighted properties perform and to move beyond the default negative perception that blighted properties are entirely problematic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8351
Author(s):  
Brack W. Hale

The benefits from educational travel programs (ETPs) for students have been well-documented in the literature, particularly for programs looking at sustainability and environmental issues. However, the impacts the ETPs have on the destinations that host them have been less frequently considered; most of these studies focus, understandably, on destinations in the Global South. This paper draws on a framework of sustainable educational travel to examine how ETPs affect their host destinations in two case study destinations, based on the author’s professional experience in these locations, interviews with host organizations that use the lens of the pandemic, and information from government databases. The findings highlight an awareness of the sustainability of the destination, the importance of good, local partnerships with organizations well-connected in their communities, and educational activities that can benefit both students and hosts. Nonetheless, we have a long way to go to understand the full impacts of ETPs on their host destinations and thus truly learn to avoid them.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260
Author(s):  
John Harrington

AbstractThe spread of COVID-19 has seen a contest over health governance and sovereignty in Global South states, with a focus on two radically distinct modes: (1) indicators and metrics and (2) securitisation. Indicators have been a vehicle for the government of states through the external imposition and internal self-application of standards and benchmarks. Securitisation refers to the calling-into-being of emergencies in the face of existential threats to the nation. This paper contextualises both historically with reference to the trajectory of Global South states in the decades after decolonisation, which saw the rise and decline of Third-World solidarity and its replacement by neoliberalism and global governance mechanisms in health, as in other sectors. The interaction between these modes and their relative prominence during COVID-19 is studied through a brief case-study of developments in Kenya during the early months of the pandemic. The paper closes with suggestions for further research and a reflection on parallel trends within Global North states.


Author(s):  
Krishana Persaud

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights identifies freedom from hunger and malnutrition as a fundamental human right of every individual. The current global food crisis undermines this right and has multi‐faceted repercussions for poverty reduction and sustainable development in the Global South. A plethora of explanations have been proposed regarding the causes of the current food crisis, while a biotechnological solution involving the expansion of Genetically Modified (GM) seeds in the Global South has gained renewed momentum and simultaneously increased resistance. This presentation will provide a nuanced understanding of the promotion of IPRs and biotechnological ‘inventions’ as contemporary facets of a hegemonic modernization discourse of development. By first critically examining the development of IPRs and their relation to biotechnology I provide a basis for understanding the internal contradictions of this technologically reductionist discourse. Using a detailed case study from India, I then illustrate the way in which the internal contradictions of this discourse result in particular forms of resistance which significantly challenge the structure of the global food system.


2020 ◽  
pp. 155-178
Author(s):  
Garth Myers

This chapter examines the urban studies literatures on urban politics and policy mobilities, from postcolonial southern perspectives. Analysis of urban politics is in flux within global urban studies. For years, the predominant focus of global North urban studies in analyzing urban politics resided with understanding growth machines and urban. Recently, there has been a general change in focus from discreet units at scale (i.e. a city government) to a ‘relational’ approach. What does this work look like, viewed from the global South? How do urbanists from the global South or those focused on its cities approach these arenas of scholarship? The chapter seeks answers to these questions with specific policies in mind. specific policies examined include participatory budgeting, bus rapid transit, enclave urbanization (new towns or satellite cities), sister city relationships, and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Case study material from Hartford, San Juan, Zanzibar and Dongguan helps to show different ways in which South-South connectivities shape politics, governance and urban cultures at both ends.


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