THE POST-FORDIST WORLD - LABOR-RELATIONS, INTERNATIONAL HIERARCHY ANDGLOBAL ECOLOGY

This article was first presented as the RIPE annual lecture at Durham University on 7 November 1995. It seeks to explore the transformation of the capital-labour relation in the aftermath of the postwar crisis of Fordism. It examines how various solutions to this crisis, in the d eveloped world, the newly industrialized world and, latterly, the form er socialist bloc, have brought about a radical restructuring of the w orld's economic hierarchy. One consequence has been the emergence of c ontinental blocs characterized by the heterogeneity of the economic sy stems within their sphere. The coexistence of countries with differing labour regimes within integrated continental blocs is the primary foc us, with each bloc analysed in turn for its particular aspects. This l eads to consideration of the possibility of a third international divi sion of labour. The article concludes with an examination of an unexpe cted consequence of this restructuring, namely the relation between sy stems of labour-capital relations and attitudes towards global ecologi cal crisis.