ABSTRACT
Multinational corporations highlight-in a very concentrated fashion-the tension that arises when economic production is organ-ized globally while political systems remain organized around mutually exclusive national territories. Multinational corporations often generate tension because they extend managerial control across national borders. This managerial control enables firms based in one country to make decisions about how to employ resources located in a foreign country. Contemporary discussion surrounding the emergence of Chinese firms as a major source of foreign investment in sub-Saharan African economies illustrates these tensions. While African governments have generally welcomed the gains that Chinese investment in infrastructure, natural resources, and manufacturing brings to their societies, many local observers have raised concerns about how these Chinese firms treat African workers, and safeguard the environment. A major American newspaper even went so far as to title a long story about Chinese corporate investment in Africa, “Is China the World’s New Colonial Power” (Larmer 2017)? Though investment by Chinese firms raises additional questions about the possibility of state control of these investments, this additional dimension sharpens the issue rather than creating it.
