Zones of reterritorialization: India’s free trade zones in comparative perspective, 1947 to the 1980s

Abstract

During the period of decolonization and the Cold War, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and US development agencies promoted free trade zones to developing countries. However, other zones emerged prior to and apart from these policy models, some of which, including India’s early zones, took on features of this model only by the 1980s. To make sense of zones within and beyond a UNIDO model, this article understands them through their connection to the rise of nation-state territoriality around the world. The zone is thereby a spatial strategy used in processes of state (re)territorialization to rearticulate state spatiality under the global condition. This article explores such a perspective by situating the history of India’s early free trade zones comparatively.

Entrepreneurial Innovation and Export Diversification: Strategies for India's Global Trade Expansion

“…Examples of primary sources of secondary data include academic journals, research articles, government publications, industry reports, and databases maintained by international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The information from these sources offers a thorough knowledge of the trends, problems, and opportunities defining the landscape of India's worldwide commerce (Maruschke, 2017).…”

The Routledge Handbook of transregional studies

“…The history of the zone is not confined to its association with US foreign policy and UN agencies. The zone has also emerged on its own in individual contexts around the world, connected to changing strategies of state spatiality (Maruschke 2017). Neither of the two countries with the largest zone policies today -China and India -began their zone practices in relation to US foreign policy pressure or UNIDO assistance (for China, see Crane 1990: 27;Reardon 1996: 285-90; for India, see Maruschke 2017).…”

“…The zone is therefore a state territorial practice that augments state space in a way that is not exclusively territorial. The zone is a feature of state spatiality that can serve specific de-and reterritorializing functions (Maruschke 2017). It can be used to strategically reconnect (specific) emigrants back to the state and to connect the market to these individuals abroad.…”

“…The main purpose of this space of exception was, ironically, to better connect this remote, coastal location near Pakistan with India's territorializing state space. The remoteness of the location also served the purpose of shielding the rest of the state from the connectivity generated in the zone (Maruschke 2017).…”