Global Business and Political Governance

A brief look at critical turning-points that have marked qualitative transformations in the nexus between the polity and business. What is most noticeable is the pendulum-like movement of the status and influence of business from the periphery to the centre in the power structure. Each swing of the pendulum originates in the dysfunction of whatever organisational thrust happened to be dominant at the beginning of the swing. Surely, the present swing towards global business will generate some countervailing tendencies which will change the momentum of the process, as also its specific nature. In the process the opportunities for expansion available to the developing nations will diminish in one area, and increase perhaps in others.