Focusing on the United States and the Caribbean, this informative book traces the advent and subsequent growth of production sharing between outsourcing textiles and apparel firms and assembly operations, located in specially designated export processing zones. The study brings a fresh perspective to the continuing debate about globalization and regionalization in the global political economy and the ways in which state policy, in both developed and developing countries, shapes the patterns of economic integration and competitiveness among participating countries and firms.

Dr Tony Heron is a Lecturer in International Political Economy in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Contents: Introduction; Theories of international political economy; United States - Caribbean economic relations since 1945; The Caribbean offshore development model; The restructuring of the United States textile and apparel industry; The North American apparel commodity chain; The politics of NAFTA parity; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.