ABSTRACT
The Transnational corporations (TNCs) become an integral part of the global economy and play a variety of roles in states fraught with conflict. These extend to state-building and partnering with host governments to protect and promote profitable production. The single largest form of growth by TNCs within the global economy is foreign direct investment (FDI), investment into one country by a company located in another. TNCs profited immensely in recent years by investing in developing and transition economies, and the United Nations forecasts that new markets will abound in the global south during the twenty-first century. Widespread cherry picking of assets by TNCs and elites, protected by private military and security companies (PMSCs), may eventually wreak havoc not just on single states but on the state system itself. Glencore International is not alone in marshalling extraordinary private force to cover its flanks abroad nor in experimenting with quasi-state power.
