The TNCs Web of Control: excerpt 5

viewed together, these four webs offer a picture very different from that of a global village - the Global Cultural Bazaar is reaching the majority of households with its global dreams - much smaller numbers are playing any role at all in the three networks that produce, market, and finance the world's goods and services - in the new world economy, there is a huge gulf between the beneficiaries and the excluded and, as world population grows, it is widening - the most disturbing aspect of this global system is that the formidable power and mobility of global corporations are undermining the effectiveness of national governments to carry out essential policies on behalf of their people.

leaders of nation-states are losing much of the control over their own territory they once had - more and more, they must conform to the demands of the outside world because the outsiders are already inside the gates - business enterprises that routinely operate across borders are linking far-flung pieces of territory into a new world economy that bypasses all sorts of established political arrangements and conventions - tax laws intended for another age, traditional ways to control capital flows and interest rates, full-employment policies, and old approaches to resource development and environmental protection are becoming obsolete, unenforceable, or irrelevant.

national leaders no longer have the ability to comprehend, much less control, these giants because they are mobile, and like the mythic Greek figure "Proteus" they are constantly changing appearances to suit different circumstances - the shifting relationships between the managers of global corporations and political authorities are creating a new political reality almost everywhere. -- [excerpts 1-5] [based on Fidonet, Third World Network Features, Worldtalk, 02-18-94 -- Richard J Barnet & John Cavanagh: excerpted from a chapter in a forthcoming book by the authors entitled Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World Order - Richard J Barnet is the author of Global Reach (with Ronald E Muller) and 10 other books - John Cavanagh co-directs the World Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies]

The TNCs Web of Control: excerpt 5