1. Transnational Politics MNCs: market-based transnationalism

2. Today  MNCs: The ‘ugly’?  The role of MNCs in development and policy making  What can the study of NGOs and TANs (Keck/Sikkink) contribute to our understanding of MNCs?  Readings:  From the bottom-up: Dahan, Doh, Guay: The Role of Multinational Corporations in transnational institution building’  From the top-down: David Collier, author of ‘The Bottom Billion’; How does economic development occur?; Gapminder.orgThe Bottom BillionGapminder.org Monday, 2/18/2008

3. Why talk about MNCs?  MNCs and power  MNCs and development  MNCs and human rights  Def.: MNCs are enterprises with commercial operations in more than one country.  1969: about 7,000 MNCs;  2005: 63,312 MNCs with 821,818 foreign affiliates.  ILO information on MNCs ILO information on MNCs Monday, 2/18/2008

4. Market authority  In 1996, 405 out of 500 largest MNCs were headquartered in the Northern hemisphere: US (162), Japan (126), France (42), Germany (41), and Great Britain (34).  Of the 100 largest economies: 51 are MNCs and 49 are states.

5. MNCs: agents of social change?  Key argument: MNCs create policy networks in order to shape their regulatory and social environments. MNCs do not just adjust and adapt to their environment, but actively shape it.  Limits of the existing literature (p. 1547)  Looks at the national level only (not beyond the nation state).  Looks at MNC-state relations only (not at other interactions).  Looks at isolated MNCs only (not networked action).  Looks at material (hard) power only (not the realm of ideas and norms). Monday, 2/18/2008

6. Four sections  First section: IB and IM literature (p. 1573)  Traditional view of MNCs  Second section: A policy-network perspective (p. 1578)  Policy communities; epistemic communities; issue networks  Third section: Applying the model (p. 1585)  Policy communities: Shaping policies  Epistemic communities: Producing knowledge  Issue networks: Building coalitions  Fourth section: Contributions, limitations, future research (p. 1592) Monday, 2/18/2008

7. 1. Limits of the IB literature MNCs face two types of pressures:  Globalization exposes MNCs to a wide range of homogenizing pressures. Accelerated diffusion of ideas and norms. >> isomorphism (p. 1575)  MNCs have to adapt to domestic laws and adopt local practices.  However: The literature has ignored MNCs’ capabilities to shape their domestic and transnational environment. Monday, 2/18/2008

8. MNC and their institutional environment Policy convergence across nations may be desirable in order to standardize operations... Isomorphic pressures. (p. 1577) Coercive/imposition: law and other rules externally imposed Mimetic/harmonization: uncertainty leading to imitation Normative/diffusion: socialization/learning/internalization Monday, 2/18/2008

9. 2. Developing a policy network perspective Definition, p. 1578: A policy network is “a self-organizing group that coordinates a growing number of public (decision-makers) and private (interest groups) actors for the purpose of formulating and implementing public policies.” Monday, 2/18/2008

10. Categories of policy networks Table 1, p. 1580  Policy community: restricted, stable membership  Issue network: loose coalitions. Issue-oriented  Epistemic community: focus on knowledge Monday, 2/18/2008

11. When do policy networks matter? Determinants of success, p. 1581:  Network structure ( density and type, p. 1581 )  Members’ characteristics (type and position in the network)  Strategies ( resource exchange and discourse/framing, p. 1582/3 )  Institutional characteristics of the policy area ( forum shopping) Compare to Keck and Sikkink, p. 25-9): Issue and actor characteristics (sender and target) Monday, 2/18/2008

12. 3. Application: MNCs in policy networks  MNCs in policy communities (p. 1585)  Focus on access and resource exchange  MNCs in epistemic communities  Climate change; focus on knowledge/framing  MNCs in issue networks  Focus on creating a common strategy/understanding of the problem Monday, 2/18/2008

13. 4. Contributions, limits and future research  Contributions (p. 1592/3)  Offer a more complete picture of MNC interactions with their institutional environment.  Focus on the agency of MNCs.  Development of policy network perspective: explain the role of MNCs in institution-building.  Limitations  The categories of networks are underspecified.  The policy network approach is descriptive/heuristic, not necessarily explanatory. Monday, 2/18/2008

14. Future research  Why do some issues become focal points of MNC mobilization and others do not?  Where do policy networks come from?  How can we derive better predictions about the success of particular networks?  Why do MNCs prefer different modes of policy convergences? Monday, 2/18/2008