Conflicts between multinational corporations and less developed countries: the case of bauxite mining in the Caribbean with special reference to Guyana

Abstract

The interface between DCs and LDCs in the international economic system includes several dimensions. The major ones involve the.international trade, monetary, investment, assistance, and technology transfer systems. Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have become institutions of great importance in the international economic system. Their activities span all of the dimensions of the international economic system, and they are a focal point in DC-LDC relationships.

In recent years LDC dissatisfaction with the nature of the international economic system increased and has lead to the call for a new international economic order. At the center of the growing discontent has been growing dissatisfaction with MNCs and with foreign exchange earnings from primary product exports--many of which are produced and sold by MNCs. That several of these primary products are sold to DCs and provide raw materials for their industrial economies is a point not lost to the LDCs.

MNCs are widely regarded as providing important flov/s of benefits for the countries which host them, for their home countries, and for the global economy in general; and for having potential for even greater flows in the future. However, disenchantment with them has arisen in recent years in both DCs and LDCs as awareness of costs associated with MNCs' activities has spread and opinions of their magnitudes increased. This has led to a series of controversies about appropriate policies toward them by home countries, host countries, and international organizations. The outcomes of policies toward MNCs and the conditions associated with them promise to influence greatly the future nature and performance of the international economic system and that of individual national participants within it.