The Secret Empire: How 25 Multinationals Rule the World

Inroads made by such corporations as Fiat, General Motors and IBM into the economy of the U.S.S.R. before its political collapse helped to assure the failure of the coup and the survival of glasnost and perestroika, contends Lowe, former financial editor of the San Diego (Calif.) Tribune. This wide-ranging, compelling study of a global political-industrial-military complex is based on aggressive research and extensive travel. Lowe stresses the importance of making citizens understand how to adapt to the good and bad effects of what she terms an irreversible trend toward oligopoly, whose growth--through acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures--she traces through the mid-'80s. Multinationals, she charges, influence and often control the policies and politicians of their own countries and the foreign nations where they operate. However, the author counters, their reach can be constructive: multinationls employ millions of people, contribute to public services in the communities where they do business and are responsible for life-enhancing advances in science and medicine. In return, they expect governments to provide a stable business climate. Capitalistic states, she concludes, ``will have to reinvent themselves'' to survive in the world economy's new structure. (May)