ARTICLE: A Potential Tool for Protecting Human Rights in the Third World, By Bart Mongoven, Stratfor, August 16, 2007

This is very good to see. I agree with the positive view of FDI presumed here, especially in relation to state-run alternatives. The great irony of socialism is that it accomplished exactly what Marx warned against: making the factory owner and political boss one-in-the-nasty-same. Marx figured safety in identicalness, but practice reveals a profound lack of checks and balances, especially in the form of a muzzled press and a captive judiciary.

By harnessing the positive potential of multinationals to force better delineation of individual rights versus those of the state as a result of investment choices and industrial development, this kind of outside pressure can help further the development of legal rule sets in developing economies. The clearer those rule sets become, the more confident other companies become about entering that market.

Thanks to Brad Lena for sending this.