Richard J. Barnet and John Cavanagh, in Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World Order, argue that "there appears to be a direct connection between economic integration and political dissolution," and their book is an exploration of causes and examples of "this perverse relationship." By "economic integration" the authors mean the globalization of economics, in which national factors play weaker roles and international forces grow stronger. By "political dissolution" the authors mean that political power over world events is diminishing as a result of economic globalization. The authors argue that economic or business leaders are growing in power, while political leaders are losing power. The result is a world run by business leaders who care only about the profit ledger, instead of political leaders who at least show some capacity for consideration of human and environmental needs.
Barnet and Cavanagh give a number of examples of their economic integration/political dissolution argument. In the first section of the book, they launch a vast study of the globalization of the entertainment industry in which, until the concluding chapter of the section, scant mention is made of the role of politics or government. This is telling, because it indicates the weakness of politics and the growing power of corporations. The major argument of the authors in this regard, again, is that corporations care little or nothing about the human factor---values, consciousness, emotional aspects---and everything about gaining customers and increasing profits and control over the marketplace:
Although hundreds of millions of children and teenagers around the world are listening to the same music and watching the same films and videos, globally distributed entertainment products are not creating a discernible global consciousness---other than a widely shared passion for more global goods and vicarious experience. . . . The exotic image...