The main objective of this work is to identify the limits of the influence of multinational companies (MNCs) in multilateral negotiation processes. The defence efficiency of their corporate interests depends basically on the confluence between their interests and their national governments' and on the governments' vulnerabilities in relation to the companies' activities as well as on the limited capacity of the coalitions which the companies try to influence. I recognize the limitations of the MNCs' influential power through an extension of the Frieden-Rogowsky model, where I propose that the sectors damaged by the process of internationalization tend - nationally and transnationally - to oppose the political actions of the MNCs. The second part of the work shows the role of MNCs in the negotiations of the Cartagena Protocol of Biosafety, a complementary instrument of the Biodiversity Convention (CBD), which regulates the genetically modified organisms (GMOs). An important conclusion of this work is to explain under which circumstances the MNCs are able to act as negotiators using their influence as well as their structural and soft powers, by trying to form transnational coalitions and by helping to build coalitions among national governments in order to defend their interests in intergovernmental negotiation processes.
Multinational companies; Multilateral negotiation; Environmental governance; Genetically modified organisms
