Green state interventionism and the reconfiguration of global production networks in the era of geopolitical rivalry

This article examines how green state interventionism and geopolitical rivalry affect the spatio-organizational dynamics of global production networks (GPNs), using solar photovoltaic (PV) as a case. Drawing on the GPN 2.0 approach but incorporating a stronger conceptualization of the role of states, institutions and (geo)politics, our conceptual framework specifies how two policy instruments that are gaining prominence in the current geopolitical conjuncture – tariffs and subsidies – reshape the structural imperatives facing firms and, thus, incentivize a swathe of reconfiguration strategies with direct consequences for the spatial organization of GPNs. Based on interviews with solar PV manufacturers and other stakeholders, policy documents, trade and investment data, a systematic review of the industry press, and corporate financial reports, we present a detailed analysis of the restructuring of the global solar PV industry in response to successive interventions by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) – particularly targeting Chinese solar PV manufacturers – since 2012. The analysis not only documents a reciprocal, ‘whack-a-mole’-like interplay, in which changing US and EU policies drive a continuous geographical reconfiguration of solar PV GPNs, shifting production from China to Southeast Asia and beyond; it also shows that this restructuring is embedded in a deeper remapping of market, cost-capability and financial imperatives in the solar PV industry, induced by escalating trade and industrial policy interventions. In so doing, the article contributes to narrowing the ‘politics gap’ of GPN research and improving our understanding of GPN dynamics in an era of increasing geopolitical tensions.