NEOLIBERALISM AND THE INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOR IN HAITI

• Grant number: 24/07975-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Márcio Antonio Cataia
• Grantee: Guerby Sainte
• Supervisor: Pierre Sauvetre
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (Paris 10), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/05411-5 - Spatial productive circuits of clothing and vulnerability of territory in Haiti: the case of the Industrial Caracol Park (PIC), BP.DR

Abstract

The objective of this project is to understand how neoliberalism and the international division of labor influence Haiti's role in the productive spatial circuit of clothing. Theoretically, we start from the analysis that neoliberalism, a political and economic ideology emphasizing market liberalization and increased state intervention in the economy in favor of private enterprises, was crucial in reconfiguring the international division of labor. Therefore, this restructuring implies the allocation of various productive functions to different countries, based on their comparative advantages and the demands of the global market. In this conceptual approach, we seek to understand how Haiti is considered a production point in the global clothing distribution circuit, providing cheap labor to manufacture clothes that are subsequently sold in international markets. We aim to analyze how this dynamic of neoliberal policy influences the territorial division of labor and illustrates the exploitation of countries in the global South within the neoliberal economic structure, where competitiveness is often achieved at the expense of workers' rights and the economic development of these countries.