Governments and Multinational Enterprises: From Confrontation to Co-operation?

Abstract

There have been many studies of the ways in which governments¹ may directly affect the activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs).² Few, however, have attempted to analyse the extent to which outward or inward direct investment — through its effects on the economics of investing or recipient countries — has led governments to modify their existing economic objectives and strategies; or, indeed, of the way in which governments have sought to influence the level and pattern of MNE activity, as part of a package of policy instruments designed to advance a broader set of economic and/or social goals.