Transnational Corporations: A Threat to the Environment and Human Rights

Summary

This article describes how transnational corporations can accumulate more bargaining power than the states responsible for regulating them. Disputes over water privatization in Bolivia and Chevron–Texaco pollution in Ecuador serve as case studies of the environmental and human consequences of this imbalance. Given the inadequacy of voluntary corporate social responsibility, the article proposes enforceable legal obligations and regional integration capable of acting as a regulatory counterweight.