ABSTRACT
The two sets of phenomena are often related. Thus, for example, it is the centralization of economic power in TNCs that has often led to a decentralization of their productive activities (as noted in Chapters 3, 6 and 10); and it is attempts at political and cultural homogenization through international and supranational political unification that have generated resistance at the local or regional level (as noted in Chapters 3 and 8). The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the former Soviet Union gave an added stimulus to economic decentralization and political fragmentation. It is still too early to say whether this signals for eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union a permanent trend or a temporary hiatus prior to renewed political-economic centralization as evidenced by the accession of a number of east European countries to the EU and Russia’s inclusion on the waiting list to become a member of the WTO.
