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Greetings! I hope this "Talk" page is how I hold conversation about the definition and proceeding development of the term "Downward Harmonization".
I came across this term for the first time tonight while reading page 5 of the introduction to "Parecon : life beyond Capitalism" By Michael Albert (2003,Verso).
Quoting from the text the paragraph where it is found :
" Similarly these new institutions would not promote global trade at the expense of local economic development nor would they force Third World countries to open their markets to rich multinationals and to abandon efforts to protect infant domestic industries. Instead of downgrading international health, environmental, and other standards through a process called " downward harmonization," they would work to upgrade standards via "upward equalization."
Quoting another source..... http://edq.sagepub.com/content/12/3/248.abstract
An Uphill Struggle to Resist Downward Harmonization in Puebla, Mexico: The Case of Volkswagen Workers Walt Vanderbush Miami University Abstract
Among the contentious aspects of the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the effect that the trade agreement was likely to have on jobs and wages for workers in Mexico and the United States. Proponents of NAFTA noted that the outcomes would vary by economic sector, but they generally agreed that automobile workers in Mexico would benefit due to the infusion of new capital and greater access to the U.S. market. In this article, I argue that the case of Volkswagen workers in Puebla, Mexico, suggests a different outcome. Evidence is presented that during the period preparing for NAFTA and through the first 3 years of its application, Volkswagen workers' rights have been weakened and their wages reduced. Preliminary support is offeredfor a thesis of NAFTA-driven downward harmonization for workers on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border
It appears that the "Downward" has a negative connotation regarding the well-being of specific actors involved in and effected through the 'harmonization'.
From my bullshit detector I see that an objective definition hides the true meaning of the concept that harmonizing as one goes down is not what is occurring unless one considers the 'harmonizing' to be in the corporate globalists'(read : Neoimperialist ) agenda.