The ideology of transnational enterprise

Abstract

In recent years, numerous individuals from the business and academic professions have constructed an ideological justification for the spread of transnational enterprise. Invoking classical Free Trade doctrine, the “Corporate Cobdenites” argue that the proliferation of transnational corporations within an interdependent world economy holds forth the promise of international peace, prosperity, and a growing freedom for all people. The historical significance of liberalism as the ideology of capitalism invites scrutiny of the modern Free Trade doctrine in light of the issue of power. Employing the theory of “postimperialism” advanced by Richard L. Sklar, I argue that the internationalization of corporate capital through direct foreign investment combined with the steady growth of transnational enterprise in recent decades heralds the rise of a transnational class based largely on corporate enterprise. This development, moreover, signals the eclipse of the era of capitalist imperialism by the new stage of corporate international capitalism in the era of postimperialism. Modern Free Trade ideology justifies the rise of transnational corporate power by defining the global marketplace as a realm of freedom apart from the coercive domain of nation-states. In the tradition of American constitutionalism and corporate-liberal reform, moreover, the Corporate Cobdenites promote the consolidation of transnational corporate power by applying the logic of the corporate reconstruction of American society to international relations and the world market.