Towards a Theory of Multinational Enterprises and the Civil Society

The criticisms of globalization and multinational enterprises (MNEs) by many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are examined here with special reference to the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO has been identified by NGOs and others in the so-called ‘civil society’ as an institution that supports free trade and globalization. We develop a framework to analyze the different perceptions of NGOs and MNEs, and we use this to classify different types of trade and investment agreements. We find that most MNEs operate on a ‘triad’ rather than a global basis and that regional economic blocks are now more prevalent than globalization.The authors of this chapter acknowledge the helpful comments received from Cecilia Brain, Karl Moore, Michael Gestrin and Susan Segal-Horn.