Volume XIV — Number 2
Amos Yoder
Abstract: International efforts to monitor and influence Multinational Corporation (MNC) behavior have yielded mixed results. Yet, overall, they have allowed developing states to play an increasingly important role in reforming the international monetary system. In turn, advancements in MNC oversight have been made, including the publication of the report on MNC impacts by the internationally selected “Group of Eminent Persons,” the establishment of a UN center for information on MNCs, and a nonbinding Code of Conduct for MNCs. Nevertheless, enduring ideological differences between developed and developing countries, underpinned by enduring North-South divisions, have hindered major gains—notably through the international community’s failure to implement the Code of Conduct. To the socialist countries, MNCs are engines of war and inequality that must be restrained. Meanwhile, developed liberal states promote unencumbered MNC behavior as a key element of free trade. Although MNC negotiations have been marred in disagreement, the successful implementation of a Code that transcends North-South divisions could smooth the way for political cooperation on the many other problems facing the international community.
Key Words: Multinational Corporations, United Nations, North-South Divide, International Cooperation
