Dependency in international regimes: the case of the apparel industry in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper shows the relationship between regime and dependency theories. Its central argument is that international regimes primarily serve the accumulation interests of metropolitan capitalism, and hence perpetuate dependency. Using the case of the apparel industry in sub-Saharan Africa, it brings to the fore both the dependency and struggle in international regimes that mainstream regime theory masks. The paper concludes that, in its struggle to embed industry, Africa will need to clearly interpret the parameters of a more complex international political economy than that described in the classic dependency literature of the 1970s, and respond to them with cleverness and alacrity.