Value Chains, Supply Chains and Economic Imperialism with Intan Suwandi

Rudy joins Intan Suwandi, author of Value Chains: The New Economic Imperialism and co-author of Covid-19 and Catastrophe Capitalism: Commodity Chains and Ecological-Epidemiological-Economic Crisis for a discussion on Global Commodity Chains. We discuss supply chains from a bird's eye, the theoretical development of the concept, and why they are so crucial to capitalist production and why they consolidate inequality and imperialism. We discuss how large companies use 'arms-length' contracting to discipline suppliers, and how that causes a race to the bottom that leaves very little benefits to the host countries. We continue by discussing why Covid-19 became such a catastrophe for supply chains, and what little changes have occurred to supply chains since the start of the pandemic. We finish by discussing what supply chains teach us about potential forms of struggle and alternative futures.