The impact of the power balance between the state and the transnational corporation on human rights.

Abstract: Over the last decades there have been a shift in the power balance between the transnational corporation and the state. This shift is due to the transnational corporation’s power has increased. Therefore, this thesis will examine the impact of the power balance between the state and the transnational corporation on the enforcement of law concerning human right abuses by transnational corporations. It will focus primary on the state’s possibility to enforce its international human rights obligations. In order to find out the impact the power balance has on the enforcement, I will discuss different challenges that could stand in the way for the state due to the power of the transnational corporation or that the state is powerless over the transnational corporation. The result is that the state only has a small possibility of enforcing human rights regulation on the transnational corporation.  The reason for this is because the state is relying on the economic opportunities from the transnational corporation and the system is constructed in a manner which made the state powerless in relation to the transnational corporation. The result was therefore that the state has difficulties in enforcing the law concerning human right abuses by transnational corporations. After this conclusion it is quite clear that the power balance between the state and the transnational corporation plays a crucial role in the enforcement of the law concerning human rights abuses by transnational corporations. However, it is possible to make changes in the system so that the power balance between the state and the transnational corporation do not have the same negative effect on human rights and therefore strengthening the protection of human rights.