Christine Ward Gailey
Abstract: This article argues that economic development aid, multinational investment, and increasing militarism are integrally related and that development projects aiming to increase productivity have been detrimental to people at the local level. Multinational corporation (MNC) development projects in Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, and the Philippines are examined to understand the human cost associated with MNC global expansion. In Guatemala, the United Fruit Company undertook a campaign to install regimes sympathetic to its interests and to acquire land which led to Guatemalan dependence on the company. As a result, Guatemala suffered food shortages, low income, and poor living conditions, which have contributed to the guerrilla movement today. This is a pattern that extended to other post-colonial countries as well, with MNCs pursuing profit at the expense of those native to the country. If citizens’ everyday lives are considered a matter of importance, it can be concluded that corporate interests are opposed to those of citizens and that pursuit of those interests has exacerbated national and global problems.
Keywords: multinational corporations, human cost, neo-colonialism, acquisition, profit, detriment, development, militarism
