Sociocultural investments and the international political economy of north-south relations: The role of transnational enterprises

This chapter places the relevance of sociocultural effects into the broader context of north-south relations. Conceptualizing transnational enterprises (TNE) as transnational communication systems that transmit sociocultural attributes, it examines this process in terms of who says what through which channel, to whom with what effect. The emancipation of the developing countries from colonial dependency is a historic process that began with the end of World War II and that encompasses at least three dimensions: Political emancipation, economic emancipation, and sociocultural emancipation. Given the important role of TNEs as transnational actors, the increasing realization of the significance of the sociocultural dimension of north-south relations has given rise to a number of questions concerning the sociocultural impact of these enterprises. The chapter discusses that the extent and magnitude of effects can be expected to be a function of a number of conditions suggested by each of the individual aspects of the communication process.