Will Scott, Blog post #1

 


In our most recent class, we discussed different types of power that are used in international relations, but these types of power are not just used by governments to coerce other nations into doing what they want. For example many multinational corporations exert institutional power upon governments to ensure that whatever laws or bills are passed will benefit them the most. These giant multinational corporations wield a tremendous amount of power and influence, yet they continue to get away with it. A potential reason that these corporations are able to do this is because they generate huge amounts of revenue that, in turn, help the economies of nations that they are based in. 

When looking at the statistics, many corporations generate more money than many other countries. For example, Walmart produces around $482 billion in revenues which is higher than prominent countries such as Australia, Russia, and Saudi Arabia which all nations that demonstrate a considerable amount of power world wide. This kind of revenue allows corporations to do as they please and practically ensures that no kind of trouble will come their way. Another example of how corporations influence nations takes us back to the Trump presidency. In 2018, the United States and Donald Trump entered a trade war with China, but before this happened, President Trump met with Apple chief executive Tim Cook to see how a potential trade war would affect Apple’s profit and production. When this came to light, it truly demonstrated how these global corporations exert power upon already powerful nations such as the United States. Another reason that the multinationals exert this kind of power is because of globalization. Globalization has allowed for these companies to use offshore finance. Offshore finance allows multinational corporations to operate in different countries which means that there are different jurisdictions. Different jurisdictions allow for companies to avoid taxes in their home countries. On top of this, some countries offer deals to these companies that reduce the amount of taxes the corporations have to pay. 

A question that came to my mind was whether the power that multinational corporations hold over countries is good or bad. I am a firm believer that it is most definitely bad. The reason the United States has a democratically elected government is because we the people expect them to act in our best interest and the same goes for every other nation. Corporations having the ability to tell governments what they should and should not do depending on whether it benefits them or not is extremely corrupt and therefore people begin to lose trust in the people that they elected. The more that governments allow corporations to influence their every say and move is a recipe for disaster because at some point, there will be no need for a government seeing as though the corporations will be acting for themselves and the interest of the citizens will not be accounted for. 


Comments

  1. Laurel UtterbackFebruary 3, 2022 at 1:09 PM

    This post was really eye-opening! One topic that came to mind when I was reading it was the idea of global north-south politics, specifically when you addressed the idea of these companies taking over. It's amazing that in the United States, companies such as Walmart and Apple can use their power to influence presidential decisions about war, yet in global-south countries (those that are underdeveloped and lacking resources and money), the issue is that so many resources are produced, yet these countries do not see any profit. One piece of advice that I might recommend for next time would be to just pick two of these examples and go a little more in depth, but overall I enjoyed reading your blog post and think that you have a really strong connection between class and the real world!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2022 at 6:32 PM

    I agree with your claim that the power multinational corporations hold across global politics is negative. I think it is fascinating that the world has let these companies grow to such a degree of power and allow them to get away with so much. Also I do see in global politics how these corporations through their weight around for their own benefit. I am curious on what your thoughts would be to decrease their influence or if there is anyway to lesson their impact.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Matthew Paddock Blog Post #2

Blog Post #2 In recent days, Russian President Vladimir Putin has tested the resolve of the United States and other Western powers after he officially recognized separatist regions of Ukraine and subsequently launched a full scale invasion. Though this move is a large gamble for Putin, I believe he is confident that the reward of a “successful” mission will certainly outweigh the potential risks including sanctions and international condemnation. While Putin has stated that he ordered military intervention to protect Russians from persecution, I disagree with this propagated notion that has virtually no corroborating evidence. Rather, I argue that Putin aims to upend the current liberal world order and transform the balance of power established between nations.  In the face of threats from rising powers including China, Russia, Iran, and others, the United States has still managed to remain the dominant global hegemon that always maintains an influential presence concerning inter...
Read more

Laurel Utterback Blog Post #2

President Putin is now facing a serious dilemma following his decision to order Russian troops to invade Ukraine after deciding to recognize the Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk, as an independent. I strongly believe that ultimately, Putin will be faced with a choice of following his imperialistic agenda or listening to his crippled nation and economy that are facing the immediate impacts of the developing conflict. Just because the United States isn’t directly putting troops on the ground in Ukraine does not mean that sanctions are a less effective measure. In some ways, Putin is daring the West as he is continuing to order Russian troops to continue their route into Ukraine while the Russian economy has already started to tank, a trend that we have seen historically that I will elaborate on later in this post.   As we talked about in class, the impacts of necessary goods, such as oil and gas, are large gambles in the crisis. Germany took the first step to cut of...
Read more

Wankollie Barbara, Blog Post #2

     Our recent lectures in class concerning Russia's invasion of Ukraine while the USA, Nato, and,  EU, on the other hand, trying to " help" Ukraine from being invaded got me thinking about a scene from a book that I'm currently reading, called A Tempest, written by Aime Cesaire. In this book, one of the characters is perceived as a monster and is under the spell of the king called Prospero. Caliban(the monster), welcomes Prospero on his island, but Prospero having magical power took Caliban's land, turns him into a monster, and later curses him because he believed Caliban tried to rape his daughter. Caliban is trying to rebel against his master, to get his island back, but it’s not working because Prospero is way too powerful. But that’s not the point or scene I’m driving at. Fast forward, new people arrive on the island and are also admiring the things they see and they want to take over. So Caliban sees this as an opportunity to merge with these ...
Read more