Written by Sabine Selchow
In the 1960s and 1970s, multinational corporations turned into a politcial issue. The UN was an important site at which this politicisation unfolded. Of particular significance was an initiative of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Grounded in ECOSOC Resolution 1721 (LIII) of 1972, ECOSOC produced a Background Report, appointed a ‘group of eminent persons’ to study the impat of multinational corporations on development and international relations and asked this group to produce a report with recommendations for international action. The result was the establishment of the UN Commission on Transnational Corporations and the UN Center for Transnational Corporations in 1974. This ECOINT primer provides information on the ECOSOC initiative. It lists the people who were involved and provides information on the two reports that were produced and have been perceived “groundbreaking and pivotal. They set the pattern and agenda for the UN contribution to the debate on TNCs for many years” (Sagafi-nejad 2008: 87). This primer is addressed at readers who do not have prior knowledge of the ECOSOC initiative 1972-1974. Its aim is to help gaining a quick overview of some of the initiative’s main components.
Reference:
SELCHOW, Sabine, The UN Economic and Social Council’s initiative on multinational corporations (1972-1974): a Primer, EUI, HEC, ECOINT, Primer Paper, 2023- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/78028