Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century by John Smith

Author:John Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 2016-08-08T16:00:00+00:00

8

Imperialism and the Law of Value

We have yet to see a systematic theory of imperialism designed for a world in which all international relations are internal to capitalism and governed by capitalist imperatives. That, at least in part, is because a world of more or less universal capitalism … is a very recent development.

—ELLEN MEIKSINS WOOD1

Critical evaluation of theoretical concepts developed in previous historical stages combines two distinct but complementary processes. First, the benefits of hindsight are brought to bear, as these concepts are tested against the subsequent course of social evolution, including both the empirical data of all that has happened since and new theoretical insights; and, second, these concepts are evaluated in relation to the data and theories that were extant at the time they were devised. These two analytical processes take place simultaneously and are often blurred, but the best results are obtained when we are conscious of these two processes going on in our heads. With this in mind, we now proceed to further enrich the concepts of value, productivity, exploitation, etc., that have so far been developed through our analysis of the empirics of neoliberal globalization and our critique of theories of dependency and new imperialism by critically evaluating the foundational ideas of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, with the aim not of going back into history but of fully arriving at the present.

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