A battery bonanza for the global South? Prospects for economic upgrading in lithium-ion battery value chains in the context of strategic capitalism

Abstract

This paper assesses global battery value chains and efforts to achieve economic upgrading in these. It provides an outline of the ways in which the global economic order is changing and discusses key concepts which account for that, including strategic capitalism and geoeconomics. The paper suggest that a changed global economic order likely impacts economic upgrading efforts by countries in the global south but precisely how is uncertain. The type of impact might be multifaceted and it may constitute impact of an either positive or negative kind. The paper identifies relevant research questions and explores four different ways that a changing global order may alter conditions for economic upgrading in the battery sector: Ideological shifts, systemic measures to safeguard competitiveness, long term thinking and stewardship of access to major markets.