Nation-Sates and Imperialism

[Monty Cantsin]

Hey, I’m writing an essay on imperialism in the 20th century, whether or not the concept of ‘imperialism’ can be applied to the period. To key me there are a few key debates, can the concept of imperialism be applied to the foreign policy of the soviet union? and secondly if we are seeing the decline of the nation-state and the rise of supra-national institutions can we still consider the period as dominated by imperialism? even though there’s a prescience of unequal global exchanges is it still nationally based? This second issues is key because the concept of imperialism is centered on the Idea of the nation-state as the protection racket for capitalist monopolies. if the capitalist monopolies have gained autonomy from the state and supersede its authority then we can no longer talk in terms of strict imperialism.

My question for you guys and gals – do you know of any important thinkers dealing with these debates? I’ve got some stuff from world systems analysis authors, such as Immanuel Wallenstein and Andre Gunter Frank among others. Also people like Negir who support the thesis of a new international order that is truly supra-national.

Journal articles would be great – I don’t have a lot of time – though, suggesting books is fine because I’ll have a look at them later. are there any particularly important New Left Review articles or Monthly review ones?

[Die Neue Zeit]

I think we chatted about imperialism in other threads recently, but this Trot article may be of some use:

Lenin, Kautsky, and "ultra-imperialism"

The only post-Cold War supra-national institution really worth considering in terms of Kautsky's argument is indeed the EU, but then again there are competing interests. Take, for example, the rise in the euro. I read in some recent news that Germany was enthusiastic about the currency's appreciation at the expense of the US dollar, but that France wasn't. Ironic, considering that Germany is, at least for the moment, the world's largest exporter.

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by Hammer@October 26, 2007 03:38 am
The only post-Cold War supra-national institution really worth considering in terms of Kautsky's argument is indeed the EU, but then again there are competing interests.

Not quite. Kautsky's ultra-imperialism wasn't about the formation of competing trade blocs (of which the EU is one) but of capitalists around the world forming a mutually profitable cartel. Today competition between capitalists remains fierce but the basic "building block" of this order is now super-national rather than national. This is far akin to the Hobson/Lenin model than Kautsky's

I'd recommend David' Harvey's The New Imperialism for what is probably the most up to date reasoning of Marxist theories on imperialism. It has some interesting pieces on the global flow of capital and the need of capitalists to resort to primitive accumulation. Another critique of economic imperialism, though hardly Marxist in nature or reasoning, is Stiglitz's Globalisation