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GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2005 by Irogbe, Kema
Foreign policy decision-makers are in reality a highly mobile sector of the American corporate structure, a group of men who frequently assume and define high level policy tasks in government, rather than routinely administer it, and then return to business. The conclusion is that a small number of men fill the large majority of key foreign policy posts.38
From the days of "manifest destiny," the empire of the United States has been well supplied with such a creed. America's imperial creed since World War II has been "world responsibility". A former Treasurer and later Chairman of Standard oil of New Jersey, Leo D. Welch, once affirmed America's position: "American private enterprise is confronted with this choice: it may strike out and save its position all over the world, or sit by and witness its own funeral. We must set the pace and assume the responsibility of the majority stockholder in this corporation known to the world.. .Nor is this for a given term of office. This is a permanent responsibility."39 The developed countries are unified to a great extent in political affairs under the leadership of the United States. They are united politically by the fact that they face a common enemy at home and abroad; at home such as the riots in Seattle against the WTO and other protests across the country, and abroad such as the frequent attacks against the interests of the global corporations around the world.
The widespread military bases and the accompanying complex of expenditures at home and abroad, protecting present and potential sources of raw materials safe-guarding foreign markets and foreign investments, preserving spheres of influence such as the state of Israel - the "U.S. deputy peace-keeper", and maintaining the structure of world capitalist markets serve many purposes of special interest to the MNCs. In the words of former President Woodrow Wilson: "Suppose you go to Washington and try to get at your government. You will find that while you are politely listened to, the men really consulted are the men who have the big stake - the big bankers, the big manufacturers, and the big masters of commerce...the masters of the government of the United States."40 This is why American diplomacy in the world cannot be viewed in isolation. It is part of a well-orchestrated global strategy aimed at safeguarding its interests and that of its European junior partners. In defending its interest, the U.S., the lone superpower, has become undoubtedly the international police force with the power to make, enforce, and adjudicate law. The United Nations is almost irrelevant or obsolete. In fact, it is now a tool of the United States for the implementation of American foreign policy. Take, for example, the case of Iraq. The sanctions against Iraq for its flagrant violation of international law by invading and annexing Kuwait were justifiably imposed. However, many countries including France, Russia and China shared the belief that it was time to lift the sanctions. But the United States, seconded by Britain, adamantly disagreed. Instead, the United States led a coalition-of-the-willing in an unprecedented unilateral, preemptive invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in March 2003 without the approval of the United Nations. Iraq, one of the so-called "axis of evil" as President Bush, Jr., referred to Iraq as well as North Korea and Iran in the 2002 State of the Union address, is now illegally occupied by the U.S.-led coalition-of-the-willing. The U.S. on-going military involvement in Nigeria cited earlier in this paper as well as in Colombia, Philippines, Afghanistan, and elsewhere under the disguise of fighting terrorism is all designed to protect the U.S. global economic interest.
