Economic (in)security and global value chains: The dynamics of industrial and trade integration in the Euro-Mediterranean macro-region

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has been engaged in a project of macro-regional integration with selected North African countries, increasing inter-dependent economic relations. Trade has been liberalised, global value chains extended and EU firms have established industrial production activity. This paper examines the consequences for economic insecurity in the region, in the context of trade integration, the Tunisian 'Arab Spring' and the enduring economic crisis in the EU. It questions whether economic integration is leading to industrial upgrading and improvement in working conditions and argues that, while economic growth was fostered on the basis of this model, it has also created conditions for economic insecurity and uneven development.