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The World Bank, World Trade Organization and others promote integration into global markets as a certain path towards economic development. Some researchers share this optimism, arguing that development is the record of how one thing leads to another, once peripheral locations have plugged into global networks. Comparing resource peripheries in South America, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa with regard to the upstream oil and gas sector, we call for a more nuanced assessment. Against the backdrop of 38 narrative, open-ended interviews, we show that there is spatial polarization between 'gateways' and peripheral sites in Southeast Asia. Argentinean and Ghanaian case studies reveal that local firms usually provide generic services, with little prospects of venturing into higher value-adding activities. We conclude that at least the oil and gas sector is not suitable for fulfilling very optimistic expectations on development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The periphery of the world economy is integrated into global production networks (GPNs) by 'gateways'. These are intermediary places from where transnational corporations organise their business activities in close cooperation with corporate service providers. Gateways may also serve as logistics nodes as well as sites of industrial processing and knowledge generation. While some claim that gateways are engines of growth, others argue that they prosper at the expense of peripheral places. The article applies these thoughts to Mauritius, oil and gas GPNs, and the gateway's impact upon sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis indicates that Mauritius holds a certain potential for logistics and corporate control. The island serves as a hub of service provision already today. Only its status as a tax haven has a negative effect on resource peripheries. Against the backdrop of these findings, the authors discuss whether gateways should be seen as drivers or obstacles of peripheral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]