Globalization and Transnational Corporations

Globalization refers to the process through which the people of the world are put together within a single society and work collectively (Mann & Michael, 1997).  In most cases, globalization is used to refer to economic globalization which basically involves the incorporation of the national economies into international economy through foreign direct investment, the flow of capital, trade and the spread of technology. This kind of process is usually driven by the grouping of technological, economic, political and biological aspects. The expression can also refer to transnational diffusion of ideas, languages and some of the popular cultures.

It is arguable that the globalization is intrinsically undemocratic because the process of decision making is no longer lie within the control of national governments but the goodwill of transitional organizations like the world trade organization, the global civil societies for example the non-governmental organizations and the civil rights movements. World trade organizations works on agreements which are negotiated and approved by its member states then ratified in their parliaments (Sassen & Saskia, 1996).  By promoting free trade the WTO among its member states, the democratically nature of the governing bodies has been undermined. Thus the main goal of the organization is to help the community to produce goods and services which are of economical importance hence geared towards changing the social status of people.

According to a survey carried out in United States, the world trade officials discovered that laws that were put in place to protect sea turtle and dolphins were a great barrier to free trade. This laws hindered the free trade as those who used sea as means  transport  for goods were heavily fined  .This enactment reduced the  volume of trade significantly which made the organization to lift it( Morris & Lydia, 1997). From this study it clear that the role of legislature as the key decision maker is null. Consequently it is evident that transnational organizations are left to make economic decisions of governments. These lenders states undemocratic in making decisions .transnational organizations have reached an agriculture agreement which provides for free movement of agricultural imports and exports. This has also enabled free movement of people and goods which leads to globalizing. Some states put trade barriers to governments that they cannot bear. This makes the state to abide by the organizations requirements making the state powerless in making its decisions

Thus, the world trade organization through agriculture promotes community and social development because agriculture for many countries is the largest employment sector. Studies show that four percent of the highly developed countries population is employed in this sector while thirty percent for middle developed countries and seventy percent for the low income countries (Sassen & Saskia, 1996). Also it accounts for the largest share of the household expenditure

The Civil Society Contribution to Decision Making

Global civil society is also another organization that plays an indispensable role in decision making. As argued by Baylis& Steve, (1997) there many civil societies spread over the whole world which is aimed at promoting community development and well being of the society. They are viewed in the way they transform the society in a progressive and democratizing manner. They are essential to globalization forces of free trade and privatization thus the definition as dynamic non-governmental organization (Dunning & John 1997).

The non-governmental organizations mobilize and develop campaigns in many areas including agriculture, trade, and health. Through the pressure applied to the state governance, leverage on decision making control is attained as the non-governmental organization will operate independently without being influenced by other parties (Harrison &Tyler, 2006).It is worth to note that the outstanding role of non-governmental organization and their capacity to deliver a wide range of social goods results in governance on social and economic policy making change.  For instance organizations dealing will the HIV and Aids awareness have full mandate to operate without the control of the state. Therefore these organizations supersede state in such operations. According to Harrison &Tyler (2006) the NGOs are accused for their instrumental responsibility in the provision of essential services in a rapid and aggressive marketization face. Moreover, the traditional forms of civil society have declined.

With reference to civil right movements it is arguable that the struggles for free trade and open market have led to emergence of global civil society organization structure reframing. As cited in the America, the major events that transpired to the present civil rights movement can be traced in 1950s and 1960s in Alabama. These movements led to African American equal accessibility to schools, economic opportunities, housing and public and private transportation (Rudra &Nita, 2002). Furthermore the fight for equality by the Africans Americans in Chicago had been a regular feature. Andrew posits that global civil society seeks to challenge the role of the national government (Rudra &Nita, 2002).  

Unlike the state that necessitates the exclusionary practices of citizenship, the civil rights movements' inverses this approach. Since the establishment of this movements in 1968, emergence of radical bottom-up approaches have been applied to redefine the control over social and economic policy decision making. Rudra &Nita (2002) points out that the concept of civil society was taken up by radicals in the Western Europe after checking both the power and arbitrariness of the contemporary state and on the power of the unbridled capitalism. Subsequently she sees this as the struggle toward s personal autonomy, self organization and private space makes it difficult for the antagonism to oppose the national government on matters regarding decision making (Rudra &Nita, 2002)

Civil movements have led to personal freedom among the community. Hence, global civil society emergence can be termed as liberation of the society from the national government rigid policies. The pioneers shaped the struggle towards rejection of the conservative politics disregarding its claims of universal interest representation but rather to self realization emancipator claims. The civil rights movements criticize thepolitical distancing and collective governance. According to many commentators' civil societies have a high potential in invigorate processes through their dialogical, deliberate and reflexive characteristics ((Mann & Michael, 1997). This has called for the reassessment of the state governance in a globalization world (Sassen & Saskia, 1996).

Trans National Organisations and Role in Globalisation

Transitional organizations are the most supreme actors in the socio-economic potentiality. A collection of empirical research that was done confirmed that under globalization, transitional organizations enjoy enormous supremacy that does not match historically (Rudra &Nita, 2002). They are hyper -movable hence enabling transitional organization get provided with dimensional that the opponents and multinational colleagues does not have. Such extended supremacy or powers enables transitional organizations to put into question any policies of the national government that does not meet the needs of the people accordingly.

According to my point view, the national government has been weakened by the globalization and changed it into a factor .of transitional capital. The decline of these national government powers are portion of the wide crisis of the nation-state. This makes its great relevant aspect in the decreased ability of the state-government. Because of the transitional organization's scope which is quite larger compare with that of the national government, promotion and coordination of capital accumulation must be transferred to the same level as the transitional state forms (Dunning & John, 1997).Institutions like the World Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations Agencies, International Monetary Funds (IMF), NGOs, NAFTA, and other European Union, have severally appeared as entities with greater- than-national scopes that enable them to undertake these roles.

The social legitimating instances are not the same. Unlike the case of the national government, transitional states are always shielded from direct participation with the public when it comes to decision-making processes, reality which greatly reduces their ''work'' to legitimate (Garland & David, 1996). The functioning however is greatly based on the executive deeds that are reflected from elite bureaucracies only with a remote that does not exist in some cases with the constituencies they are indeed expected to represent. World Trade Organization (WTO) is indeed the   most important agency in terms of economic regulations especially at the global level. It virtually has no connections with the citizens of the member states. The European Union also falls into this category.

However there has been complains that the international organizations are undemocratic. But the existing international organizations are really, weak and are not so much  threatening as the ant-globalization complains (Morris& Lydia, 1997). The well-maligned World Trade Organization (WTO) also has only a minimal budget and staff. Moreover, international institutions are highly responsive to the national government and  prone of complaining indirect, real democratic legitimacy. This is quite opposite to the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). A global economic institution does not engage in frequent cooperation with the member states and their authorities are derived from the efficacy.

In the world with transitional politics where democracy is the stepping stone of legitimacy, these arguments are not strong enough to enable protection of any but the feared technical attack. The international institutions such as IMF, WTO, and the World Bank have weak rules with powerful effects. The protesters are at times making valid points. It's quite important to understand that they are not all member states of international organizations that democratic. Several delegations from various governments are, in combination with lack of transparency, always pulls down the accountability (Morris &Lydia, 1997).  In some cases organizations are the agents of states, and that they are the representative of certain parts of these states. There is a clear proof that the national government is the stepping stones in the globalization and not only the transitional organization (Rudra & Nita, 2002).  For example, the minister of trade must attend the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings. Finance minister also attends the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings. The central bankers yearly held their meeting at Bank for International Settlement in Basel. According to the outsiders, and even the same national government, these international institutions are the secretive clubs (Morris &Lydia, 1997).   Lifting the viewed legitimacy of global governance is an important aim that requires:  clarity of the democracy, accountability and understanding, and non-reluctance to experiments (Dunning & John, 1997).

The government has a great task in doing several things to ensure that they respond to the emerging issues in the global deficit. First, they ensure the designation of the international institution that preserve as much space as possible to enable the domestic political processes to operate. In the World Trade Organization (WTO), the settling issues procedures can easily intrude, on domestic sovereignty. The country can reject refused the judgment if it carefully offers limited compensation with the trade partners affected by this action. Then government has a role of including environment ministers and other officials in their World Trade Organization (WTO) delegations. 

Multinational corporations have contributed to globalization in a great margin; in eastern part of Asia it has been noted clearly that has contributed to the growth of globalization .the rise of East Asia is the major player here and not the states themselves

States have disintegrated in these regions but due to these organizations globalization has shown a recommendable response. The international financiers are the key supporters in globalization unlike the way it was controlled by the national states (Rudra &Nita, 2002). This is because they can control the markets by giving conditions before the release there funds. For instant these organizations can put more weight on free markets which would lead to globalization

Credit assessment of a state determines the level of globalization; the state credit availability is based on organizations such as the World Bank which is very keen in leading the world to globalization (Dunning & John (1997). In many states economics which is associated with globalization goes hand in hand with politics. This is an aspect that makes it relevant for states to be involved in decision making to cope with the requirements of these organizations .(for example a state can make a decision  to take a loan to help in globalization on conditions that it will be repaid  and this takes a political direction.

Governments are not bound entirely to deal with the mattes of globalization because failure to follow the transnational requirements may lead to trade sanctions which may bring negative consequences to the society. This fact supports the idea that decision making on social and economic policies rely on transnational organizations.

The transnational actors control the aspect of decision making on behalf of the state government (Garland & David 1996).This has taken root to ensure that the society benefits. for instance when a state or region produces what it has absolute advantage in production unlike it would be for the government which decides to produce everything .these organizations do this to ensure trade between countries does not collapse since it would discourage globalization (Garland & David 1996).

The world trade organization influences the state economy and internal social security of that nation greatly. Due to this it would be mandatory for these states to cope with it. These governments will do this by signing treaties with others nations to open boundaries, countries will trade benefiting members of the society and hence globalization.

Technologically Trans National Corporations Have Contributed To the Decision Making Of the States

Transnational corporations which have integrated structures like the Microsoft have got great a lot of influence in many states Garland & David (1996) the use of computers which was first began by these corporations has remained to be the source of globalization in these states .the use of internet has enabled people in far countries to coordinate businesses from far. Business people can operate from different states even without stepping there. This case clearly that the decision on globalization is much dependent on such corporations rather than the government of the state itself. The explanation gives the statement full support that decision making of governments lies on goodwill of the organization

Over the past years communication technology has significantly improved in such a way that global distances have been reduced .this technology has made it possible to order thing overseas without much complexities. Decisions that were made by states governments due to their demanding processes can be made easily by individuals. This kind of information globalization involves transnational organizations and therefore states governments are not involved

Transnational organizations such as   international monetary fund have taken the role to push for globalization. This is by giving the governments the role to protect life and property for representatives dealing with improvement of science and technology(Dunning& John, 1997) .They has also been banned from intervening in the process of globalization. These protections enable states to remove sanctions to transnational corporations that failure to which these governments suffer consequences (Rudra &Nita, 2002).

In conclusion globalization is intrinsically undemocratic as the decision of social and economic issues no longer lies in control of governments. Transnational organizations take the full control of these issues by putting regulation that hinders other parties from interfering. States have  to rely on the goodwill of these transnational corporations .Governments have to follow the direction of these organizations such as international monetary fund .These has been made achievable because failure to do so leads a state  to face unpleasant consequences.