Development in chains: On the radical origins of global value chain research

In this contribution to the history of theory, the origins of the global value chains (GVC) paradigm are revisited. Some critics have argued that GVC research has been mainstreamed from an originally critical approach, and thus having been made fit for a neoliberal development discourse. This contribution discusses how the early GVC concept has integrated the radical traditions of the development paradigm and the world-systems analysis. It argues that the author broadly accepted as eminent for the formation of the GVC paradigm, Gary Gereffi, had introduced these traditions into a mainstream development discourse. In this process, these traditions have been operationalized and formalized in a way that seems to run counter to their intentions.