Protest in Global Production Networks: Peasant Transnational Movements from Southeast Asia

As a contribution to a very limited literature on transnational protest in global production networks, this paper examines how peasants, assisted by civil society organizations (CSOs), influence political behavior of government-corporation nexus in Southeast Asia. It looks at the consequences of protest in global production networks. Drawing on a case of Cambodia's controversial sugar supply chain, this paper argues that, although transnational protest of peasant failed to leverage significant influence on the sugar companies and the Government to achieve their demands, their movements have to some extend shaped the corporation's responsibility towards grassroots communities. Having assisted by CSOs, it however undermines identity and representation of peasant movements; domestically they lose their identity and ideology within the government's jurisdiction, and globally their representation is dominated by global civil society. In essence, undertaking protest in global production networks is double edged swords: on the one hand, it undermines local ideology and identity of the peasant, and on the other hand, it induces a certain influence on transnational corporations' behavior. To understand protest in global production networks, local identity and representation should be taken into consideration rather than how transnational protest effects of intended outcomes.