Rethinking Imperialism

The BRICs, US ‘Decline’ and Global Transformations

“…There are of course areas of conflict between China, the US and other states, but whether this can be explained as the necessary outcome of international anarchy (realism) or uneven development (Leninism) is another matter. Contemporary imperialism differs sharply from the imperialism theorized by classical Marxists like Lenin and Bukharin, when inter-imperialist rivalries took place in the context of relatively closed trade and investment relations with the colonies and semi-colonies, in contrast to the current liberal order of relatively free trade and open door investment policies (Kiely 2010;Panitch and Gindin 2012). Theorizing current wars in terms of access to raw materials is therefore unconvincing because, in the context of free trade and open investment, it does not secure access at the expense of potential rivals.…”

“…The utility of classical Marxist theories of imperialism is a matter of some considerable debate (Barratt-Brown 1970;Brewer 1990;Kiely 2010), and while many reject a good deal of the details of the classics, the argument that the international capitalist economy promotes not only economic competition between capitals, but geopolitical competition between states, retains some influence. For example, Callinicos accepts that global interdependence since 1945 partly undermines the relevance of classical theories of imperialism today, but he retains the argument that geopolitical competition between states is still a central feature of the international order.…”

“…What follows draws on various radical traditions in political economy, including a non-dogmatic Marxism (Kiely 1995;, alongside work inspired by (among others) List, Keynes and Polanyi, as well as some work that draws inspirations from the idea of dependency (Kay 1989). It also draws on non-orthodox Marxist traditions of geopolitics, which owes some debt to the work of Kautsky (Panitch and Gindin 2012;Kiely 2010). At the same time however, the empirical work that follows This is indicative of a transformation in the international order, in which "the world's economic centre of gravity has moved towards the east and south, from OECD members to emerging economies…This realignment of the world economy…represents a structural change of historical significance."…”

Governing the “Digital Shadows”: Public Policy and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Acquisition and Utilization in Africa

“…A knowledging Africa's situation of all-round (including technological) dependency as a possible contributory factor to the declining fortunes of the continent, The World Bank [5] noted that "by the 1990s, it was clear that Africa was being marginalized in the world economy, with declining world export shares, falling terms of trade, and rising indebtedness". Also, Kiely [6] also affirms this fall in Africa and Latin America's share of world trade in spite of the globalization of production. In essence, this meant that globalization had not been working in the favour of Africa.…”

Book review: The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx, by Alex Callinicos

“…Post-classical Marxism has started to do fresh conceptual work to tackle empirical anomalies such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph, while retaining valuable insights from classical Marxism (cf. various contributions to Anievas 2010;Fleetwood 2008;Kiely 2010;Madra and Özselçuk 2010;Wood 2005). In so doing, post-classical Marxism has succeeded in reinvigorating Marxism as an active academic culture.…”