Bernard Jullien

Introduction: Industries, Globalization and Politics

Globalization is widely considered to cause many of the major political challenges of our time. Moreover, when defined as a set of processes that embody ‘a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions, generating transcontinental or inter-regional flows and networks of activity, interaction and power’ (Held et al, 1999: 16), globalization is frequently said to be causing convergence in the way economies are structured and governed. More precisely, as a set of ‘aggregate social consequences’ (Bisley, 2007: 30), globalization is claimed to be driving homogenous and unstoppable swathes of neo-liberal transformations of contemporary economies and polities (Harvey, 2003).

European Automobile Distribution: Globalization and Incomplete Liberalization

The issue of globalization has a certain immediacy for actors in industries such as pharmaceuticals or defence where it has had a direct impact on both strategic and operational issues. Generally, however, industrial actors are caught up in changes which observers or analysts attribute to an expansion of political and economic space whilst they themselves—be they the regulators or the regulated—instead perceive this change occurring at the different levels at which mediation and problem-solving actually take place. Indeed, even when the economic and strategic questions posed are globalized, or are in the process of being so, such processes are hard to grasp using the category of globalization. A fortiori, an examination of industries which spontaneously manifest resistance to the application of the concept, without being exempt from its forces, allows us to better understand how the dialectics of globalization takes shape. The fact that globalization is not experienced directly in such industries reveals the existence of mediations between meta-tendencies and the realities of each industry’s dynamics. Consequently, we hypothesize here that particularly within such industries, globalization is a political enterprise that generates competitive reactions.

The Transformation of the French Foie Gras Industry: Globalization, Intellectual Property Rights and Industrial Domination

Although this has undoubtedly escaped the notice of most consumers, over the last 15 years foie gras has become more abundant and less expensive. Behind these trends lies an industry within which the daily industrial and commercial practices of duck producers, manufacturers and retailers have been deeply transformed. At the root of this modified ‘productive system’, however, lies the emergence and institutionalization of a new normative and cognitive framework for this industry. This process began in the late 1980s when concerns began to be systematically raised in the South-West of France about the effects of unregulated international trade upon the quality of the foie gras on the market, the veracity of its geographical labelling and, indirectly, the lowering of its price. More precisely, producers and manufacturers from areas such as the Perigord began to contest and politicize a practice, common at the time, which consisted of importing liver from Eastern-bloc countries such as Hungary, processing it in the South-West of France, and then labelling it as a product of this region. In so doing, these actors allied themselves with representatives of other foodstuffs (e.g. Jambon de Bayonne, Jambon de Parme, Pruneaux d’Agen) who were similarly outraged at the fraudulent ‘passing off of their products. After lengthy intra- and trans-national negotiations, in 1992, this alliance then convinced a sufficient number of national governments in Europe to pass a European Union (EU) regulation (2081/92) creating a system of Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) for food products.

Conclusion: The Politics of Industry and Globalization

This book has sought to renew and revitalize research on phenomena frequently synthesized with the term ‘globalization’. It has done so by treating the latter as both a process and a powerful vector for legitimizing regulatory change within specific industries.