Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that conflict between Third World states and transnational corporations in natural resource industries is an inherent and dialectical result of a system of corporate imperialism. It shows how the thrust of nationalization by such states can be blunted—or even reversedby the formidable battery of economic, political, and military pressures that the transnational companies and their home governments can mobilize. Cooptation of economic nationalism involves developing a new and enhanced role for the Third World state in the resource industries. The governments become responsible for supplying or raising the considerable amounts of capital required for expansion, an expansion which serves the objective requirements of the center countries. The governments have an even stronger interest in policing and pacifying the labor force, since it is the direct recipient of the cash flows generated by the industry.