ABSTRACT
The most evident form of interdependence and globalisation is the greater interconnectedness among nations in cross-border movements of commodities, assets, goods, people, labour, financial flows, services and communications. A vivid illustration of the new dimension is the institutional primacy of the transnational corporations (TNCs) in many countries of the world. In the 1970s, it was easier to talk about the economic dependence of the North upon the South where the major resources needed by the industrialised world lay within the less developed world of the South. Interdependence and globalisation are always changeable, as well as manipulable, conditions; and it is in the realms of the ‘politic’ that the immediate sources of such change or manipulation are to be found’. Globalisation and interdependence arise partly from the spatial strategies of TNCs to exploit the national differences in labour force, market conditions, and regulatory environments. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
