Multinational Enterprise and the Nation-State in an Interdependent World
| Published date | 01 September 1984 |
| Date | 01 September 1984 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070208403900310 |
| Author | David Leyton-Brown |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Multinational
enterprise
and
the
nation-state
in an
interdependent
world
DAVID
LEYTON-BROWN
The
Politics
of
International
Investment
by
Earl
H.
Fry (New York: McGraw-Hill
Inc,
1983,
ix/228
pp,
$36.50)
Multinationals
Under
Fire:
Lessons
in
the
Management
of
Conflict
by
Thomas
N.
Gladwin
and
Ingo
Walter
(New
York:
John
Wiley &
Sons,
1g8o,
xiv/689
pp,
$63.95)
Globalism
and
the
Nation-State
by
Eric
Kierans,
CBC
Massey
Lectures
(Toronto:
CBC
Enterprises,
1984,
128
pp,
$6.95)
Governments
and
Multinationals:
Policies
in
the
Developed
Countries
by
A.E.
Safarian
(Washington,
DC:
British-North
American
Committee,
1982,
X/I
18
pp,
$1o.oo)
Oil
Companies
in
the
International
System
by
Louis
Turner
(London:
Royal
Institute
of
International
Affairs/George
Allen
&
Unwin,
1978, 240
pp,
£8.50)
In
the
196os
and
early
197os,
the
literature
on
international
investment
activity
and
the
spread
of
multinational
enterprise
(MNE)
was
preoccupied
with
questions
of
the
effects
on
national
and international
welfare.
Attention
was
infrequently
paid
to
the
consequences
of
the emergence
of
a
new
important
actor
in
world
affairs
-
the
MNE
-
for
the
traditional
basis
of
politi-
cal
organization
-
the nation-state.
Many
of
those
who
ad-
dressed
this
matter
simplistically
assumed
that
the
growing
economic
impact
of
the
MNE
would
translate
into
political
power,
while
governments
would
be
unable
to
design
policies
appropriate
to
manage
and
control
the
new
reality,
with
the
consequent
diminishing
of
the
role
of
the
nation-state.'
More
recently,
others
have
suggested
that
the
growth
of
the
MNE
and
the
loss
of
control
over
domestic
affairs
have
led
governments
to
strive
to
assert
that
control.
2
Associate
Professor,
Department
of
Political Science, York
University;
Acting
Director,
York
University
Research
Programme
in Strategic
Studies.
1
A
good survey
of
the
views
subscribing
to
a
'sovereignty
at
bay
model'
can
be
found
in
Robert
Gilpin,
U.S.
Power
and
the
Multinational
Corporation:
The
Political
Economy
of
Foreign
Direct
Investment
(New
York:
Basic
Books
1975),
220.
2
Both
views
are outlined
in
David
Leyton-Brown,
The
Nation-State
and
Multinational
Enterprise:
Erosion
or
Assertion,
Behind
the
Headlines
40(September
1982).
International
Journal
xxxix
Summer
1984
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