Banana

James Wiley

Description

The banana is the world’s most important fresh fruit commodity. Little more than a century old, the global banana industry began in the late 1880s as a result of technological advances such as refrigerated shipping, which facilitated the transportation of this highly perishable good to distant markets. Since its inception the banana industry has been fraught with controversy, exhibiting many of the issues underlying the basic global economic relations that first emerged in the era of European colonialism. Perhaps more than any other agricultural product, the banana reflects the evolution of the world economy. At each stage changes in the global economy manifested themselves in the economic geography of banana production and trade. This remains true today as neoliberal imperatives drive the globalization process and mandate freer trade, influencing the patterns of the transatlantic banana trade.

 

The Banana demystifies the banana trade and its path toward globalization. It reviews interregional relationships in the industry and the changing institutional framework governing global trade and assesses the roles of such major players as the European Union and the World Trade Organization. It also analyzes the forces driving today’s economy, such as the competitiveness imperative, diversification processes, and niche market strategies. Its final chapter suggests how the outcome of the recent banana war will affect bananas and trade in other commodities sectors as well.

 

The Banana belies the common perception of globalization as a monolithic and irresistible force and reveals instead various efforts to resist or modify the process at local and national levels. Nevertheless, the banana does represent another step toward a globalized and industrialized agricultural economy.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Tropical agriculture
• Globalization
• Americas
• Latin America
• History of the Americas

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska Paperback
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803216372
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

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Photographs ©by James Wiley. Maps © by Matthew Craig. ©by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the

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Library of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wiley, James.

The banana: empires, trade wars, and

globalization / James Wiley. p. cm. — (At table) Includes bibliographical references and index. >H7C (cloth: alk. paper) . Banana trade.. Banana trade—Latin America.I.. Banana trade—Caribbean Area. Title. II. Series: At table series. =9.L฀7  '—dc  Set in Dante. Designed by Ashley Muehlbauer.

This book is dedicated to the independent banana farmers of the eastern Caribbean and to the workers of Latin America’s banana plantations.

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List of Illustrations  Preface  Acknowledgments  Introduction  Abbreviations  Ed[0  7 8WdWdW FbWdjWj_ed CeZ[b  ;c[h][i _d BWj_d 7c[h_YW ฀

. . .

The Creation of the Banana Empire, –฀ The Empire Challenged,–฀ The End of Splendid Isolation, –฀

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Peasant Farmer Societies: Commonwealth Caribbean Bananas Belize, Suriname, and the French West Indies: On the Margins of the Caribbean





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The Single European Market and the Western Hemisphere’s Banana Industries Neocolonialism Encounters the Free Trade Imperative The World Trade Organization and the Banana Trade The U.S.–EU Banana War Heats Up

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Pursuit of an Elusive Goal Implications for the Future

Notes References Index





 

 

  

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four subsystems of the global. The  banana trade Central Americabanana zones of . The

                  

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