As the new millennium dawns, a new world order is taking shape. The political environment in which the global economy has to function is finally recovering from the bewilderment which followed the collapse of the bipolar system which had, in turn, come into being after World War Two. The aim of this book is to provide a discussion of the new world order as manifested by some of the changes which dominate the arena, specifically the dichotomy of concurrent attempts at globalization and regionalization of international trade and financial issues.

The book is organized into four parts. Having set the stage in Part I, Part II deals with globalization issues, especially the World Trade Organization and its impact on global trade, as well as examining labor standards and reviewing the long-standing debate on trade policy. Part III provides an examination of some of the larger and more successful attempts at regional integration and regionalization of trade issues in Asia, the European Union, and the transitional economies of Central Europe. Finally, Part IV provides an analysis of one of the vehicles of bringing about the changes which are necessary to turn this still abstract idea into reality, namely the multinational corporations.