Ndongo S. Sylla. 2014. the Fair Trade Scandal: Marketing Poverty to Benefit the Rich

Abstract

Ndongo S. Sylla. 2014. The Fair Trade Scandal: Marketing Poverty to Benefit the Rich. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. 179 pp. In The Fair Trade Scandal, Ndongo S. Sylla persuasively argues that Fair Trade perpetuates the free trade system to which it claims to present an alternative, thereby helping the rich marketing Fair Trade rather than the poor. Chapter 1 discusses the inequalities in the global trade system in order to lay a foundation for the later exploration of Fair Trade. Though it is short, Sylla provides an effective overview of inequalities in both the results and processes of trade. International trade has resulted in primary resources specialization in developing countries, in turn leading to slow growth, low returns, high volatility, poor transmission of final prices to the producers, and high environmental costs. The biased processes involve developed countries promoting a liberalization they eschewed during their own development; they then hypocritically enforce this through tariff escalation (to dis-incentivize the processing of primary products) and through subsidies, tariff barriers, and non-tariff barriers to protect domestic industries. For those unfamiliar with trade, the chapter is a concise and sobering primer on a number of important topics like value chains, unequal exchange, tariffs, and subsidies. Chapter 2 contains a brief history of Fair Trade going back to solidarity trade in the post-World War II era. It also provides an introduction to major contemporary actors in Fair Trade. Unfortunately, the chapter suffers from its brevity, with the numerous acronyms and actors introduced in a short time becoming confusing by the end; it would have benefitted from an organizational chart or table. Chapter 3 discusses controversies surrounding Fair Trade. Sylla first establishes a historical context by discussing British abolitionism and varying interpretations of Adam Smith's views on free trade. Then, he presents three differing camps with unique critiques of Fair Trade, specifically proponents of neoliberalism, alterglobalism, and degrowth. The book takes a particularly harsh tone towards neoliberalism. For example, while noting that neoliberals rightly demand more thoroughness and transparency of Fair Trade proponents, Sylla goes on to write, "whatever the facts around Fair Trade, neoliberal critics have no intention of departing from free trade dogma. They delivered a verdict even before trying Fair Trade" (p. 72). Ultimately, Sylla notes all three camps approach "the issue of Fair Trade essentially from the point of view of rich countries," prompting the extensive discussion of the ineffectiveness of Fair Trade for poverty alleviation in Chapter 4 (p. …