The role of Multinational Corporations in the development and underdevelopment of the less developed countries (LDCs) has provoked hot debates in recent times, considering their activities and attitudes towards the host communities of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Multinational Corporations seek out societies with low production costs, poor working conditions, and abundant and easily exploitable resources, where profits can be maximized and repatriated without legal constraints. It has been argued that the activities of Multinational Corporations in the less developed countries (LDCs) have somehow crushed national prospects for egalitarian and sustainable development in the host nations as against the popular view by the liberals that, Multinational Corporations are essentially agents of economic development in the host nations. This paper will therefore examine critically the role of Multinational Corporations in the development and/or underdevelopment of the less developed countries (LDCs).
Keywords: Development, Economy, Imperialism, Underdevelopment, multinational corporation
