Neoliberal migration theory focuses on the development impact of migration in both labor sending and receiving countries. It regards migration as an integral component of a continuous process of capitalist development, and not as a phenomenon to be analyzed separately, the mistake of hitherto studies on the relationship between the two concepts. It represents development as capitalist rather than alternative development, and fails to recognize the class dynamics in the development impact of migration-the principal concern of this historical-structural essay. The alternative position is taken that the direction and flow of migration are determined by global flows of capital, currently supported by super-structural arrangements involving a complex of international institutions, academics, research programs, reports, policy prescriptions, and policy makers that promote the unhindered flows of capital and managed migration in furtherance of the imperialistcentered model of accumulation. The neoliberal focus on migration and development maintains class inequality in society.
This article extends the thesis that globalization is imperialism by arguing that the actions taken by US banana multinationals and ruling elites to force open the European Union's (EU) banana market to bananas grown in Latin America, 'dollar bananas', played a significant role in the emergence of what I term 'European bloc imperialism' through the implementation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Ten theses on EU bloc imperialism are presented and the role of US hegemony in its emergence is examined to support the idea that it is a by-product of neoliberal globalization. Developing the argument, I examine the rise of the EU and ACP blocs, the EU bloc imperialist stranglehold over the ACP states, the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, and conclude by focusing on the pushback against the EPAs.
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