TNCs & Global Order In The Context Of Globalization

We are in an era of reform motivated by globalization. The collapse of the BerlinWall symbolized the elimination of the last fence within our global home. It representednot only a"shuffle"of power between states, but also a redistribution of power betweenmarket, state and society within the global system. The Westphalia Order which wasestablished at 1648 and based on nation-state is undergoing the second transition. Dueto the diffusion of the state power in the global system, the international order oncebased on the comparison between state powers is transiting into a multiple authority one.The dominating power of multiple authorities is from TNCs.As the engine ofglobalization and the representative of world market power beyond state, how will thoseTNCs influence the new global order which is taking shape? To answer this question byillustrating a logic map is the ultimate purpose of this dissertation.Two questions can represent the difficulties appeared in a TNCs perspective: First,how does the"common gene"of thousands of TNCs in various business models andindustries can be identified and purified? Second, because TNCs'power are mostly aninvisible power, and their influent to global order scatter in the global political andeconomic system, how to simplify and integrate these scattered factors becomes anotherquestion. Therefore, after decoding and generalizing the influence powers to globalorder, the author designed an independent three-dimension analytic framework as the"skeleton"of this dissertation. Along this framework, in addition to Introduction andConclusion, the body is divided into five chapters discusses.Chapter One: Market- State- Society Three-Dimension Analytic FrameworkAs the opening, this chapter is to clarify the basic concepts and introduce theindependent analytic framework. First, the chapter clarifies core concepts related to the subject, clearly defining Globalization, TNCs, Global Order. And then, the chapterdemonstrates the reason to set global order as the object of analysis. On this basis, bygeneralizing multiple units of authorities in global order structure, the chapter developsan analytic framework based on market-state-society dimension.Chapter Two: TNCs'Behavior Space and Power ResourceComparing with states, TNCs'advantage lies in its operation and function whichare more in line with today's political logic represented by global development. At thesame time, the"three surmounting"fulfilled by globalization creates behavior space forTNCs to make an influence upon the global system; the material force and structuralpower possessed by TNCs lays the basis for them to be the founders of global order.Chapter Three: The State Dimension of Global Order—TNCs and"Middle Age"ReturnThe victory of TNCs against nation-state originated from the"Golden Straitjacket"of"New Liberalism"globalization. On this basis, TNCs'victory against nation-state liesin the"global economic web"that they fabricated by using the transnational capital theypossessed, and in which nation-states have been snared so deeply that large-scaleconflictions were prevented worldwide; at the same time, the melting boundariesbetween economics and politics, as well as between states, makes a trend appear in theglobal order that authorities overlap and royalty internwine like what happened duringthe middle age.Chapter Four: The Society Dimension of Global Order I–TNCs andTransnational HegemonySince the 1990s, TNCs have promoted the prevalence of"decentralized""post-Ford mode of production"globally. The ongoing global reform on productionmode which dominated by TNCs is dividing the domestic social power of states. Thesocial stratification once limited within the boundary of a state starts to re-stratify aseither national or transnational along the global production chain, and a new globalclass structure is forming. At the top of the new global stratification is an elite classrepresented by those TNCs who possess the structural power of production. They areforming a"Historic Bloc of Globalism", framing the institution and mutual concepts oftheir own. An order of transnational hegemony is becoming a promising possibility ofglobal in the future. Chapter Five: The Society Dimension of Global Order II–TNCs and Global CivilSociety's Anti-HegemonyWhile the capitalized transnational hegemony order increased efficiency andwealth in the global economic, its very nature of"profit reason"led to a growingpolarization in the world, and the loss of the values of equity and justice in the globalorder. The rational value represented by global civil society makes it become a"bottomto the top"power of democratization pursued morally by global order. It not only laidthe"public opinion"basis for the global order representing the benefits of all humanbeings, but also functioned to monitor, limit and correct transnational hegemony,maintaining the value proposition of freedom and democracy, fairness and justice byglobal order.