MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND THIRD WORLD FOREIGN POLICY

Abstract

Among the contentious postulations of the Humanitarian Theory of Imperialism is that foreign Multinational Corporations are positive catalysts for the development of the underdeveloped societies. However, worried by the continued underdeveloped status of Third World countries in general and Nigeria in particular despite the enormous presence of Multinational Corporations, and perturbed by the inability of Nigerian leaders (both military and civilian) to effectively use foreign policy as a tool for realization of national interests, this paper interrogates the activities of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and the effects on the foreign policy of Third World, with emphasis on Nigeria. Utilizing Marxist Economic Theory of Imperialism, secondary sources of information and content analysis, the paper ascertained among others, that the ubiquitous Multinational Corporations in Nigeria and other underdeveloped countries, have, as agents of imperialism, over the years, parasitically eroded national economic base and engendered acute neo-colonialism which, (at the standpoint of dependency syndrome) has incapacitated credible national-interest oriented foreign policy making cum execution. The paper also proffered necessary panacea.