Special Economic Zones

This chapter examines SEZs in India as a spatial development model with state-sanction for public and private land aggregation, as an economic model targeting external investors through spatial and legal exceptions, and as a governance model within the context of rescaled state power and competitive regional governments, after liberalization. The pathways, politics and emergent spaces and economies of SEZs reveal both the challenges of governing land rights and land transfers and the limited economic potential of economic enclaves to achieve economic benefits without deep – seated and generally accessible economic reforms. The chapter concludes that the SEZ experience highlights the need for economic planning beyond prominent investors and corporates and nuanced engagement with local land and labor dynamics, such as the growing significance of small and medium sized cities, informality, role of women, the land tenure spectrum and entry barriers for small and medium scale enterprises.

Keywords: Special economic zone, Khorgos, dry port, cluster, development.

Special economic zones have been selected as the main instrument of the economic diversification plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan, but despite the fourteen years that have passed since the start of the program, the SEZ's did not fulfil the tasks assigned to them.

The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons for the low performance of the Kazakhstani SEZ' by examining in detail one of them - the SEZ Khorgos Eastern Gates. Also, the researcher had a task to develop recommendations to address these causes.

The study was based on an extensive literature review that included world experience in the development of such projects. One of the results of the review was a list of success factors necessary for the SEZ, which were subsequently structured into one general model - "the model of a successful dry port cluster". This model was divided into four blocks, each of which included a set of certain factors. Further, these blocks were distributed according to a hierarchical principle, from the most important to the less important. In the first place was put the block that is in the responsibility of the government.

The next stage of this study was the verification of the SEZ Khorgos Eastern Gates for compliance with the developed model. The comparison was made by the method of assessing the presence, on a ten-point scale, of each of the success factors identified in the literature review. After the assessment, several recommendations were developed to improve them. Each of the recommendations was supported by the findings of scientists, which were highlighted in the literature review.

The result of the study was disappointing because of the 18 identified success factors, only six received a grade higher or equal to satisfactorily level. At the same time,  was observed a direct relationship between the factors. This was reflected in the fact that some factors of blocks two, three and four received a poor rating because of the low performance of the factors if the first block, which is under the governmental responsibility.

In short: To improve the performance of the SEZ Khorgos Eastern Gates, firstly, several measures need to be taken at the governmental level. In particular, measures to stabilize the political situation, to reduce corruption and to increase funding for the scientific sector in the country.
Secondly, the management of the SEZ Khorgos Eastern Gates needs to start pursuing a commercial orientation policy aimed at independence from the state budget.

Special economic zones (SEZs) have been touted as “tools for development”, and yet their results have often been disappointing. We explain why SEZ constitute a significant departure from the standard theory of federalism, and why SEZs make federalism more sustainable. We provide a model of elite dynamics in a rent-seeking society explaining the conditions under which SEZs that promote country-wide development are likely to be created. The model predicts that only under conditions of fiscal decentralization and heterogeneous elites are SEZs likely to lead to country-wide development. Comparing the SEZ programs in China and Ghana illustrate how seemingly similar SEZ programs can have very different results.

Comparative analysis of households which had been relocated by the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and those which remained in the original communities demonstrated significant differences in the vulnerability profiles of the household socio-economic status. Although overall vulnerability rates did not significantly differ, relocated households had significantly higher rates of vulnerability related to economic dependency, debt and lack of livelihood/income diversity. Detailed analysis further demonstrates that relocated households not only have lower levels of income, but are more likely to have expenditure in excess of annual income, and higher rates of debt and debt interest repayment rates. Due to a greater reliance on food purchases, and income insufficiency, relocated households reported higher rates of food insecurity, and nearly one-third reported taking loans to meet food shortages in the past year. Overall, the pattern of coping amongst relocated households demonstrates significantly lower levels of resilience than non-relocated households, which results in a rapid erosion of economic capital, and subsequently a decline in future coping capacity.
These findings challenge the assumptions around capital-based compensation approaches to relocation programmes, and argue instead that the process of relocation is best compared to a rapid transition to an urban state, where the household economy is more precarious. This precarity demands a high level of adaptive capacity, which in turn requires not only skills but access to resources, markets and welfare mechanisms. This requires a more multi-faceted and nuanced approach to relocation, which is based on a detailed knowledge of the economies and ecologies of communities to be relocated, rather than a simplistic assumption that like-for-like compensation and provision of waged labour will suffice. Thus, when considering whether the provisions made by investors and developers to compensate relocated households is sufficient, the assessment criteria should be based on measures of outcome and impact, not on the size or nature of the compensation per se. Outcome based approaches require systematic study, and the application of research evidence in planning interventions which are known to be likely to contribute to sustainable outcomes. Periodic monitoring and measurement further enables planners to adjust relocation procedures to improve outcomes, and to be aware if outcomes are not being met. This moves away from a more simple, transactional model of compensation, and instead encourages and evidence-based dialogue process with relocated communities.

In the final section of the paper, we have made an attempt to analyze the trajectory of the civil society movements in West Bengal which has recently gained momentum in the state centering on land acquisition and SEZ related political violence during and after the Singur and Nandigram episodes. Our analysis show that the civil society movement in West Bengal too is engrossed in either short-term or wider theoretical issues and    lacks    programmes in raising public opinion on the reforms and changes to be made in the existing colonial land acquisition law and its contradictions with land reforms in West Bengal.(362 words) 

Under the circumstances, we would here present two cases of land acquisition for private industries in the wake of liberalization in the West Medinipur district of West Bengal which reveals the changes in the policy of the government which still champions the causes of the small farmers and sharecroppers who formed the vote bank of the left political parties. The case studies also demonstrate the administrative constraints of land acquisition and compensation in general since these are not isolated cases.

The Government of West Bengal has passed a bill on Special Economic Zone in its State Assembly to form SEZs although there was no concrete move on the part of the government to create such zones until 2006. In 2006 a huge area in Nandigram in East Medinipur district was earmarked for a chemical industry and massive peoples’ resistance took place and the government announced that there will be no SEZ in Nandigram. Acquisition of agricultural land for large and medium industries however continues in West Bengal with the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The GoWB for the time being, it seems may not proceed with the creation of SEZ to attract foreign and domestic capital investment but it is not making any move to enact any resettlement and rehabilitation law in its State Assembly in which the ruling Left Front Government is enjoying thrashing majority for the last 30 years. The SEZ Act of the GoWB does not contain any provision for rehabilitation which means that land for SEZ in the State would be acquired by the colonial law.

Since the mid-2000s, India has been beset by widespread farmer protests against land dispossession. Dispossession Without Development demonstrates that beneath these conflicts lay a profound shift in regimes of dispossession. While the postcolonial Indian state dispossessed land mostly for public-sector industry and infrastructure, since the 1990s state governments have become land brokers for private real estate capital. Using the case of a village in Rajasthan that was dispossessed for a private Special Economic Zone, the book ethnographically illustrates the exclusionary trajectory of capitalism driving dispossession in contemporary India. Taking us into the lives of diverse villagers in "Rajpura," the book meticulously documents the destruction of agricultural livelihoods, the marginalization of rural labor, the spatial uneveness of infrastructure provision, and the dramatic consequences of real estate speculation for social inequality and village politics. Illuminating the structural underpinnings of land struggles in contemporary India, this book will resonate in any place where "land grabs" have fueled conflict in recent years.

(Full paper delivered at Association of American Geographers (AAG) 2015 )
“Ruralize the urban: urbanize the rural:… Replete terram [fill the earth].” Alluding to a passage in Genesis, these words appear on the frontispiece of Spanish Civil Engineer Ildefonso Cerdá’s colossal General Theory of Urbanization (1867). They capture the fervor with which he sought to compose a spatial order which would replace both city and territory, overcoming all historical boundaries and spatial distinctions. This new domestic template, the urbe, was to stretch across the earth, spanning both land and sea and uniting civilizations in a single spatial entity of private property and peaceful circulation. The birth of the urban would see the distinction between city and territory as a relic of the past, yielding in its place a hybrid spatiality that would erode the specificity of both. Instead, the infinite and mobile qualities of space experienced in the early modern Atlantic voyages would reemerge in the perpetually expansive process of ‘urbanización’. This paper examines the urban in this context: as a spatial order predicated on limitless circulation (vialidad) and endless expansion, I will examine how certain maritime ontologies and the orders projected onto the sea have been silently reterritorialized in the constitution of this modern spatial order. Exploring the urban in this way opens new questions about its present status: while today it may increasingly appear as a banal extension of urban space, I will reflect on how, in the face of climate change, the sea has also paradoxically reemerged as a kind of absolute limit condition to the urban.

Presentación de una estrategia para reducir la pobreza y convertir a Honduras en una nación del primer mundo en una o dos generaciones. Análisis de procesos exitosos de liberalización económica en Asia, Europa y América Latina. Elaboración de una estrategia nacional y local de reforma económica para Honduras. Impacto en el PIB de Honduras de las Zonas de Empleo y Desarrollo Económico.

This chapter is concerned with one of the most striking developments in the global political economy of capitalism after the Second World War; the rise of export processing zones and special economic zones. Building on long-term ethnohistorical research on the zones’ global spread from one zone in Puerto Rico in 1947 to 3500 zones employing more
than 70 million workers in 2007, it is shown that this phenomenon can only be explained if the analytical focus is on the elementary structures of capitalism, with class formation as one such structure. A critique of the ethnic bias of mainstream anthropological research on the small-island nation-state Mauritius exemplifies how historical materialist structural analysis enables anthropology to overcome its silence regarding the macrostructural workings of capitalism and also undiscloses blind spots in what so-called micro-level analysis.

This entry for the Wiley International Encyclopaedia fo Anthropology details the emergence of export processing zones and special economic zones and offers an overview of debates and research on the zones in social and cultural anthropology since the 1980s.

Fair compensation for land acquisition by governments or with government approval has been a contentious issue in many countries.  Recent protests in China and India, for example, have created major political challenges that have forced policy changes and new legislation.  Myanmar has experienced numerous “land grabbing” protests since it began its transition to democratic rule in 2011.  Such protests may escalate under Myanmar’s next government and become an obstacle to major infrastructure, industrial and urbanization projects that are vital to the country’s economic progress.  The paper has four parts.  Part One discusses the impact of development on land value and why it is so difficult to provide fair compensation to land owners and residents.  Part Two examines the land acquisition policies of Myanmar, China, India, and several other countries.  Part Three sketches out an innovative approach to compensation for land acquisition that includes an equity (or equivalent) interest in the success of major projects among landowners and residents in the project area.  Part Four examines how this approach could be applied in the case of the Dawei deep seaport and industrial zone project that is designed to serve as one of the country’s growth centers, anchor two of the planned Southeast Asia transportation “corridors”, and provide a new trade link for Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Oman's free zone leaders discuss their outlook and strategies for growth in 2018.

A breakdown of data trends and forecasts for the logistics and transportation sectors.

Oman's Vision 2020 and the Logistics Strategy 2040 for free zone investors.

The Asian middle-income economies initiate a number of development programmes in order to fast tract their visions for entry into high-income economies. Special economic cities are examples of such platforms for rapid economic and social development in many parts of Asia. While there are conceptual, operational and strategic similarities between Asian economic cities, there are dissimilarities in realising the goals of such economic cities. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has planned six economic cities across the Kingdom; in a similar way, Malaysia is also developing five economic cities and corridors. This paper compares economic city development between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The paper’s analytical comparison focuses on the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and the Iskandar Malaysia Metropolis. The specific objectives of this paper are: to identify the strategic agendas of the KAEC and Iskandar Malaysia for economic diversification; compare and contrast development strategies, goals and achievement of objectives between the two cities; and to identify potential partnership areas between the two cities and challenges the two projects pose to sustainability. The paper’s conceptual framework is drawn from miscellaneous economic and spatial paradigms namely, peer-review mechanism, growth centre theory, flying geese paradigm, global city theory and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) model. Though both Iskandar Malaysia and KAEC projects are ongoing, so far the trends and diversity of economic activities are successful at some levels. KAEC could learn a lot from its Malaysian peer particularly in aspects of promoting environmental sustainability and investor attraction. Both can also strengthen each other through bilateral talks and various cooperation and partnerships levels. We find that flooding and fragmentation of urban spaces are to common environmental challenge in both cities. The paper suggests the need for increased diversification and innovation of new ideas into sustain the socioeconomic impacts of the two regions through more investments in innovation, research and development. The two cities must also seek to define ecological costs of development.
Keywords: KAEC, Iskandar Malaysia, economy, global, sustainability, OIC

This is the Burmese language version of our case study report on special economic zones in Cambodia and Myanmar, of the incentives and assurances offered to investors weighed against the protection and benefits to local communities, workers, and the environment. The study concludes that the legislative and governance structures covering the development and operation of SEZs have been skewed toward the interests of investors and against those of locals and the environment. It contends that SEZs have been used as tools enabling investors to capture and exploit Cambodia and Myanmar’s most productive assets, their land and labour, and are facilitating the financial extraction of value from the Mekong. It also suggests that weaknesses in SEZ governance structures, and the lack of transparency and accountability in the development and administration of the zones, are heightening the risk of capture of the state by political and economic elites: whereby public power may be exercised for private gain, and preferential treatment for certain individuals or firms is woven into the institutional framework of a state.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been built worldwide since the 1960s to facilitate global free trade and integrate developing countries into global production and distribution networks, and have been mushrooming in Southeast Asia in recent years. They remain controversial, and are attracting growing interest from policy makers, investors, civil society, and the general public. Supporters praise them for spurring foreign investment, creating jobs, building infrastructure, and helping host countries to diversify their economies; critics argue that they entail more costs than benefits, negatively impact local communities, undermine workers’ rights, and cause environmental harm and degradation. Asking why, and to what end, SEZs are being developed in the Mekong, this study develops two case studies of special economic zones in Cambodia and Myanmar, of the incentives and assurances offered to investors weighed against the protection and benefits to local communities, workers, and the environment.

It finds that SEZs have played a central role in the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program (GMS-ECP) since the mid-1990s, a regional integration and development model of the Asian Development Bank (ADB); and are being integrated into China’s One Belt, One Road initiative. Although generous enticements and guarantees are offered to investors, similar commitments have not been extended to locals. While national and international laws and standards pertaining to land, labour rights, and environmental protection officially apply to SEZs, they have not been implemented effectively. SEZs have been developed with limited transparency and locals have been displaced without proper consultation and adequate redress. Workers face obstacles protecting rights they are entitled to under domestic and international law, and have been violently supressed for asserting them. Environmental impact assessments have not always met international standards, and environmental regulations have been enforced selectively in some zones. 

The study concludes that the legislative and governance structures covering the development and operation of SEZs have been skewed toward the interests of investors and against those of locals and the environment. It contends that SEZs have been used as tools enabling investors to capture and exploit Cambodia and Myanmar’s most productive assets, their land and labour, and are facilitating the financial extraction of value from the Mekong. It also suggests that weaknesses in SEZ governance structures, and the lack of transparency and accountability in the development and administration of the zones, are heightening the risk of capture of the state by political and economic elites: whereby public power may be exercised for private gain, and preferential treatment for certain individuals or firms is woven into the institutional framework of a state.

Affirming that SEZs are essentially policy tools that can be wielded to different ends using various means, the study recommends that: 1. SEZ legislative and governance framework be revised to mediate interests of investors and locals more sustainably and fairly; 2. Governments reduce their reliance on foreign investments in land and labour intensive industries, and instead invest in local industries and public infrastructure; 3. Governments meet international standards of transparency and accountability in SEZ investment and governance arrangements to mitigate the threat of capture of the state and minimize further financial extraction of value from the region; 4. Civil society continue to work with communities affected by SEZs and engage with public officials and the private sector, as well as holding misfeasors to account. Civil society could also develop new strategies to deal with more recalcitrant stakeholders, to contribute to a more equitable and liveable region for its inhabitants.

Special economic zones have been established across the Lancang Mekong region including at border areas along economic corridors. In recent years “cross border economic zones” have been promoted by China and Thailand to encourage further investment in border areas, closer cross border economic cooperation, and facilitate trade. This study presents a review of the available literature on SEZs in the region and CBEZs globally and an update of their current status across six countries. It outlines potential advantages and challenges related to cross border economic cooperation, current status of infrastructure, investment, and logistics, and a rapid capacity needs assessment based on secondary data and primary data collected through field visits and interviews held between July and September 2018. Seven border crossings, five SEZs, nine key informant interviews, and six focus group discussions with a total of 167 respondents from the public and private sector informed the study. It finds a mixed record of success with SEZs and challenges faced realising the potentially dynamic effects and spill-overs into host economies across the region. In addition, lack of clarity regarding models of cross border cooperation, with the term “cross border economic cooperation zone” applied inconsistently. In Europe, for example, this may denote institutional cross-border cooperation in a range of areas, from policing, healthcare, to the development of industrial clusters in border regions. Whereas for China, it appears to be used to refer to the extension of a special economic zone across an international border, with special legislative and governance structures and decentralised authority to zone management. The only example of the latter currently existing in the region is the China-Laos Mohan-Boten Economic Cooperation Zone. Agreements to develop similar zones between China and Vietnam and China and Myanmar have been reached. There may also have been an agreement to develop a CBEZ on the Thailand – Cambodia border. However, slow progress has been made on all except the Mohan-Boten zone. Lack of clarity regarding preferred models, concerns about trade imbalances, and coordination challenges have slowed implementation. The study recommends that more inclusive domestic and cross-border consultations resulting in strategic visions and plans for specific border regions may facilitate joint and complementary development of border. Several other recommendations toward this end are made in the final chapter.

South Africa’s high levels of unemployment forced government to adopt policies encouraging employment creation. Industrial development zones (IDZs) were a policy tool used by government to increase exports and provide jobs, assisting unemployment and income creation in the country through investment in the local economy. Using the Coega IDZ as a case study, the article suggests that job creation through the Coega IDZ has helped to reduce unemployment in the Eastern Cape through skills development and the creation of new jobs.

Cross-border special economic zones are a new type of transnational special economic zone under development worldwide. This paper introduces the concept, rationale, and status of development in mainland Southeast Asia informed by qualitative research on zones under development or consideration on China’s borders with Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, and Thailand’s borders with Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. It finds terminology to be inconsistent and governance models highly context specific. Divergence is analysed with reference to literature on state transformation and two broad trends shaping political and economic outcomes are identified: the first relates to legacies of colonialism and war; the second to struggles between domestic and transnational social forces from above and below. Previous studies have identified close cooperation and inclusivity as conditions of CSEZ success but the paper finds no evidence of this happening in the region. Instead, it argues zones contribute to broader global trends toward anti-democratic and technocratic forms of governance insulated from popular control and will likely exacerbate existing conditions of uneven development, with political and economic outcomes reflecting and reinforcing existing configurations of power. The paper concludes optimistic hopes of zones contributing to sustainable development professed by exponents will likely be frustrated.

This article examines the trajectory of struggles over land and resources in Dawei, a town in southern Myanmar. The site of a major special economic zone project, Dawei has seen sustained mobilisation around displacement, dispossession and environmental degradation, against the backdrop of national political and economic reforms. Recently, scholars have argued that earlier visions of postcolonial transition have lost their empirical and political purchase, as farmers dispossessed of land increasingly become excluded from formal capitalist production. What happens to politics and political form if dynamics of exclusion, rather than transition, organise political activity under today's conditions of accumulation? Repurposing Kalyan Sanyal's concept of postcolonial capitalism, this article describes and theorises the politics of disposses-sion in Dawei. Tracing the political activities of activist groups and villagers, it argues that two contrasting political trajectories—one secular–egalitarian, one situational– differential—constitute a heterogeneous political field, reflecting the complexity of postcolonial capitalism itself.

Taxation in general and tax evasion in particular are inherently geographical in nature but only a small number of geographers have focused on them. In this progress report I present geographers' research on offshore financial centres alongside the work of researchers from other disciplines to present an overview of what we know about the geographies of tax evasion and avoidance. It is argued that not only much regulatory work but also much research remains to be done on tax havens.
Keywords: offshore financial centre, taxation, tax avoidance, tax evasion, tax haven, economic geography, political geography

This paper will first present a simplified political economy of free trade zones (FTZs) in Gulf Arab states and highlight key insights from the available literature concerning the cross-border consequences of FTZ development. The paper then traces Saudi Arabia’s plans for FTZs with countries outside of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The paper concludes with an assessment of how the country’s economic and geopolitical interests in FTZ development may affect the likelihood of projects contributing to reconciliation and inclusion efforts, specifically those pertaining to Yemen and Iraq. The methodology combines analycentric and meta-policy approaches by analysing the economic and technical feasibility of FTZ projects and contextualising these projects to better determine their likely structural impacts.

Special economic zones (SEZs) concept has evolved across the globe and several developing countries have adopted this policy for set-up of industrial zones that focus on exports and helps in generating economic opportunity and able to attract Foreign direct investment. So SEZs can be defined as a geographically delimited area which is physically secured, has single window clearance system, less complicated administrative unit and duty free environment. So objective behind this paper is to evaluate the performance of SEZs in India in terms of generation of employment, attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and contribution in Indian export. To fulfill the objective data related to employment, investment and export from SEZs are collected from different sources like Ministry of Commerce and Industries, economic survey of India and official website of SEZ. These data are organized in Ms Excel and simple tabular analysis is done. Simple and compound growth rate is calculated to show the change in the performance of SEZs. It is found in the study that SEZs helps in generation of employment, attraction of FDI and contribution in Indian export. At present scenario 1688.34 thousand people is working in SEZs at national level, FDI in SEZs is 433142 crores in 2017 and export output from SEZs in 2016 was 467337 crores which is 19.88% of total export from India.

Special economic zones (SEZs) and gated communities both constitute 'spaces of exception', but have rarely been analysed together. As both processes have empirically converged in the form of mixed-use urban enclaves, I connect disparate literatures to understand the fragmented and exclusive nature of the Philippines' economic development in general, and Metro Manila's urbanization trajectory in particular. Based on grounded qualitative research, I explicate the rise of 'spaces of exception 2.0' that form globally connected but locally disembedded wealthy enclaves. I show how the integration of the Philippines into global capital flows, its historically grown 'anti-developmental' state, and the rise of a powerful real estate sector together have led to a proliferation of exclusive and exceptional spaces. The contemporary enclave spaces epitomize an urban and national development model of 'exclusive development', based on spatial processes of post-industrial capital accumulation in enclosed spaces, presenting a stark contrast with discourses on inclusive development.

Indonesia sedang bertumbuh, bertumbuh menjadi negara digdaya pada urusan dalam negeri dan luar negeri. Urusan dalam negeri, Indonesia masih harus menghadapi konflik antar partai dimana multipartai yang dianut oleh Indonesia menyebabkan stabilitas politik tidak kondusif. Sementara itu kondisi ekonomi Indonesia yang terus berusaha tumbuh tetap dibayangi oleh negara-negara digdaya seperti Singapura, Jepang, Amerika dan negara Eropa lainnya yang memiliki kemampuan ekonomi lebih baik.
Indonesia menghadapi tantangan di masa depan, dimana pengangguran, kemiskinan dan kesehatan menjadi persoalan dalam pembangunan dimasa depan. Tingkat pengangguran Indonesia pada tahun 2014 oleh World Bank mencapai 6.3% atau sama dengan 15,7 juta orang belum mendapatkan pekerjaan, kemudian tingkat kemiskinan Indonesia mencapai 12.5% atau sama dengan 31,2 juta orang masih berpendapatan rendah (s.d US$2). Kemudian Indonesia juga menghadapi persoalan kesehatan terutama masalah narkoba, yang merupakan ancaman eksternal yang menghancur masa depan bangsa. Laporan dari BNN menyatakan bahwa telah terjadi kenaikan sebesar 2.2% sejak tahun 2008 dan saat ini jumlah penyalahgunaan narkoba mencapai 3,8 juta orang.
Tingkat pengangguran yang terus berhasil ditekan sejak tahun 2005 sebesar 11.2% hingga 6.6% tahun 2012 menunjukkan kinerja pembangunan semakin membaik. Demikian juga halnya dengan GDP Perkapita Indonesia yang menunjukkan kinerja membaik, dimana sejak terjadi krisis di tahun 1997/1998 (US$517) hingga tahun 2013 menunjukkan kontraksi yang konsisten sebesar US$ 3,475 . Namun pengangguran dan kemiskinan tidak pernah hilang dari statistic ekonomi Indonesia, persoalan dasar ini menjadi tantangan tahunan.
Sejak Pemerintah Indonesia mengadopsi kebijakan pengembangan kawasan ekonomi khusus pada tahun 1970, yakni dengan mengembangkan Batam sebagai kawasan pionir free zone, hingga mengalami perubahan bentuk menjadi free trade zone/ftz kemudian berubah menjadi special economic zone/sez. Pertumbuhan kawasan berstatus sez tersebut semakin meningkat seperti Sei Mangkei, Tanjung Lesung, Bitung, Mandalika, MBTK, Palu, Morotai, Tanjung Api-Api dan beberapa sez lainnya yang akan disetujui, namun belum menunjukkan adanya interaksi ekonomi ke dalam kawasan.
Pemerintah sedang mengejar ketertinggalan kualitas dan kuantitas infrastruktur dalam mendorong kebijakan sez tersebut. Pemerintah menggelontorkan dana sebesar 5,000 triliun untuk 7 (tujuh) SEZ yang telah disetujui untuk pengembangan infrastruktur jalan, rel KA, pelabuhan, listrik, gas, air bersih, dan Bandar udara. Masuknya Indonesia dalam paham pengembangan ekonomi dengan menggunakan sez menjadikan negara-negara lain yang memiliki paham yang sama seperti Malaysia, China, Afrika, dan Myanmar sebagai competitor.
Tantangan dan masa depan, sez sebagai bagian dari kebijakan ekonomi diharapkan mampu memberikan kontribusi kepada GDP dan membuka lapangan pekerjaan seluas-luasnya. Demikianlah harapan dari paper ini untuk dapat mendeskripsikan tantangan dan masa depan sez.
Keyword: Special, Economic, Zone, Incentive, GDP, poverty, and unemployment.

This chapter describes and analyses economic development planning in special economic zones (SEZs) since the end of World War II. The focus is on changing ideas about zone set-ups and the industrial ventures targeted for relocations to the zones. Using material from several years of global ethnographic and archival research in dozens of zones and national and international archives, the chapter reviews SEZ set-ups from the world’s first SEZ in late 1940s Puerto Rico via the Shannon Zone in Ireland in the late 1950s and Asian SEZs in the 1960s to the 1970s consolidation of the concept that culminated in the opening of the first zones in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The changing geopolitical economy from the Cold War to the neoliberal world order, related changes in economic development policies, and the social and economic realities of super-exploitative and sexist labour regimes in SEZs are the main variables considered in the analysis.