An Epitome
The Thesis Of Masters Degree In
2009
prepared by
SALAM AL RABADI
If we work off the general metaphysical which rule the policy of economical liberty, based on the liberty of personage and institutions in their liberal economical efficiency, and if we can surpass looking at the global economy from the view of liberalism opposers and communist illusions about rankles society, then we could start the utterance of some questions which deserve to occupy the necessary range of though till we reach useful conclusions.
The first is: The numbers and data issue which may sometimes mislead upon studying the activity of transnational corporations.
A variety of those studies concerning the activity of transnational corporations to the capacities and national income of states.we can inquire about the scientific and methodical measures which are used in that correlation though a process of apparent nominal statistical comparison without thinking of introductions, reasons and logical indices.Taking into consideration the concrete incidents, does that correlation mean the corporations carry the responsibility of all negative outcomes of globalization? Can we consider that the game of numbers and oriented data serve premature attitudes with ideological background? What about objectivism in such correlation
Another inquiry is about the relation between transnational corporations and the state:
Can we say that there is an advancement in the power and control at corporations versus the retragadation at the notion of state sovereignty? Is there any limit separating the welfare of corporation from that of states? Does it mean a decay at state sovereignty or a change in its jobs? Is the strategy of corporations control?We can also add another question after the global monetary crisis of 2008: is the interventionist state back? What kind and limits of such intervention may take place?
The crucial issue concerning those corporations is the issue of national and global adjustment and control:
Are those corporations free at any control? Do any adjustment measures exists? Does the adjustment process mean the rediscovery of the perpetual more on the level of the economical game and social dynamism, can we achieve the social habituation of globalised economic powers? What are the social and political reactions regarding the global economic intricacy based on the transnational corporations and are those reactions expressing the adjustment reality?
The methodology of tackling the questions above is centered around the dialectic of society and power:
The common principle of this relation states that the power emerges, from society which consists of a group of reactant authorities, such that the power reflects that reaction. in this context, the transnational corporation is a part of the society which reacts with other parts, whereas the power expresses that reaction or competition. This may lead us to a more realistic reading for the relation between corporations and state and possibilities of adjustment. on the level of the relation between state and corporations, it the latter are a part of reactant forces in the society which is reflected by the power, then the power would represent the welfares of its society. this reality is embodied in two directions: The state’s strategy and external welfares which express the social realities including those of corporations, so are we facing a retreat in state’s control or a nexus in welfares? the other direction is based on the nature of relations and conflicts between different forces in the society, which leads to the inquiry about other forces that may control the influence of corporations: the dialectic of power and antagonist powers?
The scientific methodology is employed in this study which is engaged to the realistic analysis, comparing and quantitative analysis of numbers. A variety of academic references are used including reports and studies issued from international organizations.
study starts with a preliminary chapter and two other chapters: the preliminary one focuses on the relation between quantitative view and humanitarian phenomenon or using the ideal or realistic methodology. the use of quantitative view in dealing with humanitarian phenomena, including the Fields of history, politics, social, and development, is subject to a lot of reservations, whereas its use lead to an amazing evolution in the field of natural science due to the complexity of humanitarian issues, especially the study of globalization and the relation between state and transnational corporations. the first chapter tackles the leverage of transnational corporations through clarifying their strategies, the relation with monetary markets, the fields of employment and investment, their views of taxes and monopolized policies and the transition of economic power to an unequivalent political value, what influence do the corporations exert on media and politics. the second chapter brings up the issue of control and adjustment through the indices which express the existent capacities of states in all economic sectors, the role of UN in globalizing the accountability the role of public opinion and jurisdiction in the process control, study of all global variables and analysis of new phenomena in our contemporary world, such as the political purchasing, consumptive investment, the sovereign wealth funds and the raising economic power in east.
If contradictions and lack of certainty dominates the new global theatre, a lot of utterances raise again about the concept of sovereignty meanings and possibilities of defending it in a new world and new circumstances which would surpass the westvalia age through altering the whole system.
Away from the juristic and doctrinal differences as well as the mazes of political through, all the indices show clearly that there is a tangible penetration for the stature of all states and its jobs. On the other hand, the practice of strategies of corporations became more complex with a wide-range of strategic alliances in a variable global market. so if there is a globalised economy, in the shade of space-time dialectic then it would lead to a clear shortcoming, raising this question:
Are we in or out globalization and is such economy organized due to minority monopoly or competition requirements?
The transnational corporations represent the opposing between the capitalism evolution and the international political arrangement which is centralized on national state with its crucial economical jobs. this contradiction, on its social and economic dimensions, penetrates the states structure and its social fiber, which in turn depends on the multi nationality of corporations, on the level of owners and directors.
Based on those facts, as long as those carry the same nationality, the corporation would be a foreign penetration with limits social influence. On the contrary if a number of local managers and owners contribute in the activity at the corporations, it would leave a remarkable social influence, due to the fact that the corporation represents a framework for loyalty and intersecting policies with the structure of national state.
The growth of the phenomena of transnational corporations in developing countries, such as India and China
The global variable in the monetary markets are reflected on the nature of relationship between the state and markets powers. a lot of questions may raise about the role of states during monetary crisis? Are the states innocent in this context? What is the separating limit between the welfare of states and that of corporations upon setting rescue processes during monetary crisis? the monetary system is a domain of disagreement due to that important transformation and the emergence of intellectual drifts emphasizing the shift from global system lead by governments to another lead by markets.
The disparity of distributing is in a continuous worsening in the time of increased incomes of corporations and capitalists to exceed the national income of states, whereas the worker’s incomes freezes without any development.
Such a gap between workers and owners and capitalists leaves a lot of doubts about social security and unity. many theories accused the direct foreign investments for stealing one resources of developing countries, seeking only profit and private advantages and increasing the case of subjection of those countries. taking into consideration some recent facts: was China India , South Korea , Singapore , chez republic and Ireland
One of the phases of globalization is written in Africa by the resident Chinese who spread their investments in all domains of the African Continent. those investments aimed to attain longer term goals of China but the question is raised about the investments of transnational corporations of the developing countries for European or American corporations a considered a sort of colonization while it is considered sort of corporations? In front of such trends of liberation of international trade, there is a protective policy which can be expressed in this question:
Is the state by itself able to determine the international affairs?
We moving in the direction of the international echelon which based on privatization of security on the behalf of private corporations? If the proposals at the former UN secretary general Butros Ghali abut correlating the voting for member stated to their contributions in Financing the activities at the organization, a question may be asked in the future about the possibility of membership for institution, organizations and juristic personalities with great financial capacities?
The crisis at sovereignty cannot be merely connected to the global leverage at transnational corporations, another factors should be taken into consideration, such as globalized media, human rights agencies, and environment protectors and NGOs, which by their oppose the transnational corporation and surpass the concept to national sovereignty. We should admit the withdrawal of the states andultimate sovereignty since the borders are penetrated politically, economically, culturally and on he levels of media and security? besides, the theory of corrosion of the role of state is debatable together with the transfer from the age of states to the age of markets, holding in mind the international variables which emphasize the vital role of state in the political, legal and economic regime. it is useless to evaluate economics from the corner of quantitative add to the national output or individual income but from the corner of finding the scientific and technical base engaged to new though and culture. Such base is built on the investment in the capital of human capacity instead of human capital as a goal for development and evolvement.
Dealing with the corporations from an ??? measure based on its political and economical imperialism doesn’t fit accurately with the global international evolutions, because the corporations of the developing countries gained more strength, and the funds of sovereign wealth owned by states made it so complicated to determine the objective measure to separate the interests and strategies of states from those of corporations. the phenomena of sovereign wealth funds reflects the wide role of states in the monetary markets and global economy. The continuity of export of capital from developing countries to the developed ones leads to doubtful questions about the validity of the traditional theory of development in the recent global context. This implies the necessity of rethinking in the most important supposals concerned in alternative policies, overtaking trends and capitalism flowage of investment.
It is obvious that the states are moving towards more interference in some sectors, such as gasoline, petroleum, multimedia and conveyances.
It seems that the game of opposing powers would dominate finally, and the reality of markets, where the transnational corporations are active, requires the mechanisms of control and adjustment, and this is what is taking place nowadays. there are some opposing powers which are gaining more influence with a new philosophy spreading on the national and international levels. within such a regime based on the vitality of jurisdiction and public opinion, it is necessary to create some powers bearing the responsibility of facing the transnational corporations and to be the generator for the activities of new trio. the NGO’s reflect the realism of the new parading which control and adjust the dominating process of those corporations. the use of adaptation with climate changes concepts could be a tempered expression to disguise the absence of social justice and its global.
Away from formulating theories and starting from the dialectic of power and opposing powers, the opposers for the global institutions, like WTO and International monetary Fund and International Bank should demand the promotion of the influence of those institutions.the NGO’s should realize this demand to make the fore mentioned institutions more independent against big actionaries in addition to finding similar institutions specialized in environment, health and nutrition. this kind of resistance is the best way to wards the accomplishment of a real reform in the new trend of environmental discrimination committed by industrialized countries and corporations in the face of environment and poor individuals. adaption with the climate changes could impossible for poor people, who find great difficulties in facing deforestation and floods which threat their everyday lives and production. Such a reading for the global world threats and such a culture of thinking is the most real and useful way in finding solutions to the recent issues including the process of control on the influence of transnational corporations.
In the tense reality of the global employment markets, especially in the developing countries which suffer from the lack of fortune and its misdistribution the problems which may be faced through posing the employment issues in the international negotiations of the WTO: one of the major reasons for hindering the Dawha round is the dispute between industrialized countries and developing ones on the liberation of trade in agricultural products, as a result of refusal of industrialized countries to meet the conditions for the next two stages: liberation of industrialist commodities and services trade which cannot be done without the liberation of individual movements among the states. The proposal of developing countries in WTO, aimed to gain some concessions for the sake of liberation of worker’s movement to supply their services in the markets of developed countries, is a right step to get more winnings. Such proposal is called sample number 4.
The global economical and financial changes pose several questions about a lot of concepts and debates relevant to the role of corporations in the international policy or global economy, since we can’t depend on the classical perspectives in the study and analysis of new phenomena such as the funds of national wealth, raising eastern economic powers and more dependence on the state as a political and legal unit able to convoy those global changes.
The issue of the funds of sovereign wealth isn’t mere economic or relevant to investing realm. It is politicized as phenomena of international political relations. That why tackling this issue shouldn’t be the mission of economic technicians, but it should be left for best experts in the domain of international political, economical and diplomatic relations. those funds provoked the worries of great states which are fearing the domination of the funds of sovereign wealth on the main joints in the economic and security realms, in a opposing way to the national interest of those states. another source of fear and worries is the ability of the funds to purchase monetary markets, where all the milestones of global monetary geography are changed. The crisis of land mortgages in USA
The monetary crisis gave moiré weight for the southern states in the globalised economy. During the bust of 1997 in Asian states, USA didn’t express fears about monetary about monetary markets in developing countries per contra the recent crisis, where the American financial regime crisis forced northern countries to accept the help of oil states and financial south powers, thus, the monetary leverage had transferred to the south in the domains of work and financial overflows.
The movement margin of society is wider than that of economy, such a vision can be a source of hope and rest, because the destiny of the society is made by its individuals and the law of economical gravity has its effect on the social paradigm, since it accommodates but not determines it we live the Internet Era but the society such era is still unknown so we have to construct this society. Per contra the eloquent speech about the hostility of market and capitalist tendency, lack of rationality in the big institutions, we are witnessing the birth of a stable system of powers and antagonist powers. The corporations realize that persistent race between its endeavors to occupy monopolized positions deterrence managed by sponsor institutions for competition rights and antagonist powers, made those corporations in an unprecedent relative weakness, most parts in the global economy have an interest in stability, including the big corporations which favor the reduction of misrule and vagueness in order to obtain better planning of investments, production and marketing strategies on one side, and fixation of a stable global monetary system due to governmental control on the other side, the current idea that the corporations would benefit in a global environment lacking the control rules is a wired one. The commercial principles, the arrangement of property rights, containment of the excessive oscillations in the variable interest markets, and the stability of exchange rates all contribute in building the security climate needed by corporations to plan well for the future.
The wind of globalization which started from the 1980s and lead in the 1990s to the disunion of the Soviet Union , had provoked a new evolution in the concept of sovereignty which accompanied a conquerance of economic an politics in the context of the victory of the markets economic ideology. the economic was always, except for the soviet duration, a market economy, but its nature had changed with globalization phases. those markets undergone a shift from being national to be global whereas the state remained national as a political sovereignty, that’s why the logic of trans borders market had penetrated the sovereign logic of national state. this doesn’t mean the diminishing of state, but it means that states aren’t free-handed with a lot at changes in their jobs,
leading to the efficiency and increasing influence of corporations, and to the emergence of NGO’s which defended the state’s sovereignty even though their activities surpass such concept, and demand the control of the actions of transnational corporations. those NGO’s might be needful for some measures of control and adjustment although we can notice some positive signs in this context.
Some questions are posed regarding a lot of agencies and international institutions which determine the merit of loans in addition to the regulation of monetary markets including the stock markets. the practices of determining measures is a crucial past of the system of liberated market which by its turn determine the destiny of economic players in away giving them a real political power. although the processes of those institutions and agencies are important and constitute the most substantial phase of globalization and internationalism, can we inquire about the ??? of such agencies? Are they a part of variation in the global system? Are they a tool in the control system?
Can we propose more concentration of the experts on such institutions and agencies.
The opposing movements for globalization were able to make larger steps forward in confronting the powers of markets and the global social forum constituted the reply on Davos Forum which aimed to settle the political legitimacy harmonious with the interests of corporations and their states. That was a positive index for the capacity of works and existence of antagonist parallel powers which are able to practice pressure, control and adjustment. Not all the news are pessimistic because the oppose movements for globalization, inspite of all amphigories, had shown a serious transfer from mere protest to the organized acts based on new strategies of activities.
The emergence of social forums is a clear index of the alteration of incidents. How should it proceed to become an alternative globalization? Inspite of all increasing manifestations against new liberal globalization, no alternative strategic solution had been evident to take the chance of global mergence set by the informatics revolution. Thus, the movements of protest had no tangible plans with surrogated choices. They moving in general programs as in a viscous circle. The worst worries of the power of markets as well as corporations are embodied in taking a certain position facing a global social scheme.
If the social Forum seemed to be antagonist to Davos Forum without translating its slogans to real plans of action, the conflict remained centered on the alternative choices. Such dynamism in the wave of protest against the powers of markets shows the possibility of control and adjustment and a hopeful mark indicating the potential to find more rightful system.
The complexity resulting from the scientific and technological advancement had been reflected on the reality of global economy, thus making it a difficulty mission to study the phenomena of transnational corporations, but what kind of limits do exists between the interests of states and those of corporations?
if the greatest financier of world health organization is Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft who predominated USA
That’s why we should evaluate the process of globalization from a scientific corner inspite of the presence of losers and gainers. If Germany was a loser in the domain of employment chances, as a result of transferring textile companies abroad, for1 million and a half job on the behalf of the women of Bangladesh and South eastern Asia .
the worst attitude in dealing with globalization remains trying to idealize or devilize it at any price.
The international system is undergoing nowadays a trio-dimensioned crisis. an economic dimension related to the direct reasons of its explosion, a political dimension related to the structure and balance of powers in the global system by the time of the crisis explosion, a political dimension related to the effect of the crisis on the mental level. a question is posed: should we become a subject or creators of history? The cast of being a subject would be paid on the economic, political, institutionalized and psychological levels. it is not acceptable to tackle this reality from an ideological perspective without formulating a substantial plan of action. Why do we suggest many proposals about distribution of income instead of creation of it?
A lot of questions need to present concrete answers compatible with our historical human evolution among it we can ask:
The teleology of science: will such scientific advancement lead to the human prosperity or the calamity of human beings in the absence of comprehensive humanitarian utopism centered on the general development and promoting the basis of the social and economic covenant, citizenshop, rationality, equity and social justice? Will the social and economic development lead to the accumulation of wealth on one side and poverty on the other or should it be directed to the prosperity and welfare of all people?
Would the contemporary man exchange his view of nature from being the extension of his human existence to be a strange world for his random dalliance, no matter how worse the outcomes were on the level of his traditions and the development of plant or animal creatures?
Another question about values, would the individual stay the first and last
Value and aim for the evolution, or is it the society, nation or the whole mankind? Which is going to draw the destiny of mankind: conflict and prevalence or social solidarity and joint liability?
Is the human evolution oriented towards a universal identity or clinging to the national, ethnical and sectarian identities as an opposing reply to the global communication?
Is the history forwarded to a certain liberal or communist end as visioned by fokoyana, Marx or is it running in other directions?
