Mer än bara pengar? - En kvantitativ undersökning om huruvida U-länders statskapacitet påverkas av multinationella företag
FDIMultinational corporationsDeveloping countriesState capacityQuantitative methodPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
This thesis takes as its starting-point the different stands on the ever ongoing growth of multinational corporations (MNCs) and its consequences. Two opposing branches of theories, arguing that the establishment of MNCs in developing countries is good respectively bad for these countries, are tested for the aspect of state capacity. A quantitative method is then used to test if there exists such a relationship at all and if so, which of the two notions that are right.The presence of MNCs is measured as FDI of GDP while state capacity is defined as a combined index for three of ICRG's Political risk indicators. The two variables are analysed, mainly by cross tabulation, using an extensive dataset of 130 developing countries measured for a period of 20 years.The outcome is though ambiguous: No solid correlation can be found, but countries with a higher rate of FDI of GDP tend to have a slight worse rate of state capacity throughout the analysis. Thus the result points in favour of the notion that MNCs are bad for developing countries? state capacity. Further studies need however to be conducted before such a tendency can be certified.