ABSTRACT
Globalization is an umbrella term for a host of phenomena that involve people, products, ideas, and money crossing national boundaries in ways that challenge the sovereignty of individual nation-states. An example of a global agent is the transnational corporation (TNC) with headquarters and offshore accounts in various countries. Such corporations subcontract labor and supplies from other corporations that are equally far-flung across the globe. Car parts, for example, are now produced in multiple countries and sourced to a central location for final assembly. TNCs make production decisions based on the availability of a skilled labor pool, low labor costs, and favorable tax conditions, which require the cooperation of governments. Governments, for their part, need to help generate employment for their own citizens. In this situation, elected officials of governments deal with unelected heads of TNCs, with the latter at times exercising significantly more power than the former. Nation-states, therefore, are no longer sovereign, at least not in ways they once were.
