Recent trends in the international economy suggest a shift in the nature of imperialist involvement with the multilateral rules and institutions governing trade and finance. As WTO negotiations are becoming more difficult for the main developed country players to control in the same manner as before, regional and bilateral deals have become the preferred framework for determining patterns of cross-border trade and investment, and for enforcing liberalisation and opening markets in developing countries for multinational capital based in the industrialised nations. Such a shift has both negative and positive implications for the potential for autonomous trade and industrialisation strategies of developing countries. This paper discusses these issues in more detail.

May 5, 2004.