Transnational Corporations and National Governments

Crossing the boundaries between theories of development, globalization, and economic diplomacy, this course introduces students into the politics of transnational corporations and their interaction with host governments and domestic capital in less advanced countries. Several frameworks of analysis will be studied, including varied concepts of the developmental state, the global commodity chain approach, and models of bargaining between the transnational firm and local actors. What are the political consequences of the transnationalization of mining, textiles, automobiles, and information technology? How do industrial attributes, oligopolistic competition, country size, and features of the national polity shape governments’ capacity to bargain for development? Which are the specific roles less advanced economies can play in the world of globally organized production, and what are their chances of catching up with the leaders? Rather than focusing on a particular geographic area, the discussed cases include car manufacturing in Mexico and Southeast Asia, natural resource industries in Africa, IT industry in Ireland, and textiles & garment industries in Italy and East Asia. Whenever possible, we shall address these cases’ relevance for the current problems of the postcommunist world.