Development or dispossession? An interpretation of global integration of public sector jute mills in Bangladesh
Critical Perspectives on International Business
ISSN: 1742-2043
Article publication date: 1 July 2014
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the discourse of globalisation and its implications in the case of state-owned jute mills (SOJMs) in the post-colonial state of Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw upon a critical debate on the concept of globalisation and critical political economy to revisit the country’s historical, political, social and cultural construction to discuss conditions of its conformity within the global order. Additionally, the perspective of subaltern studies underpins discussion of the context of the post-colonial state.
Findings
A schematic analysis of the context surfaces issues that underpin the process of “truth production” and that have contributed to global integration of the Bangladesh economy. We consider how this discourse benefits some people, while over time, the majority are dislocated, excluded and deprived. Hence, this discourse denotes a territorial power of globalism that leads us to conceptualise Bangladesh as a neo-colonial state.
Originality/value
Through a case study of SOJMs, this paper contributes to discussion on the essence and implications of the globalisation discourse and on how its methods and techniques reinforce hegemony in the name of development and sustainability in the forms of liberalisation, democratisation and good governance in a state like Bangladesh.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Mr Monowar Ali for sharing his collected documents and to Mr AKM Masud Ali for insightful perspectives.
Citation
Alamgir, F. and Cairns, G. (2014), "Development or dispossession? An interpretation of global integration of public sector jute mills in Bangladesh", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 207-223. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-09-2012-0043
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited