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Reviews / Comptes Rendus
| Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, eds., The Empire Reloaded (London, New York, and Halifax: Merlin Press, Monthly Review Press, and Fernwood Publishing, 2004)
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| IN THIS PERIOD of history when academic and popular works are still proclaiming the victory of capitalism over socialism and the intellectual left has been careful to avoid any reference to Marxism and revolutionary change, it is good to encounter a critical study on the nature and impact of imperialism, which, in this period, has taken on a qualitatively new character. This critical examination of the "new" face of imperialism, mainly seen as US supremacy, in global politics and economics, is offered by two noted scholars, Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, in their recent work, The Empire Reloaded, an edited collection of seventeen essays. |
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This title, The Empire Reloaded, suggests that empire, in this present phase of imperialism, has recharged itself with new ammunition to maintain its dominance in a world characterized by the primacy of capital, the embrace of militarism, attempts at cultural homogenization, moral bankruptcy, economic and political chaos, ideological confusion, and anti-systemic movements. This new ammunition expresses itself in the "new" but old ways in which the US maintains its supremacy in a cast of capitalist powers. The supporting content speaks to the ways in which US imperialism has extended its reach, intensified its support of allies, and tightened its clutches on some of the leading capitalist powers through economic, political, and cultural penetration. Based on an analysis of two pillars of imperialism, finance and culture, the collection gives some insight into how these pillars have been transformed into weapons of conquest and plunder in various significant regions of the world: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, India, Latin America, and Russia. At the same time, however, the work points to the cracks in imperial domination and the rifts in empire brought about by the contradictions inherent in systems of domination and subordination and unequal relations of production, exchange, and distribution. While these contradictions have led to revolutionary outbursts in all epochs of history, the authors are careful to avoid committing themselves to any notion of an alternative sociopolitical system which would seek to resolve such contradictions. Despite this, the work seems to confirm, to a large extent, the validity of existing theories of imperialism, particularly Lenin's often critiqued theory of imperialism which speaks to the dominance of monopoly capital in the international political economy, and the various methods used by the imperialists, in this case the US, to maintain their dominance. Of these methods, financial capital is one of the critical ways in which dominance is sustained. However, The Empire Reloaded, by highlighting culture and cultural penetration and the move towards the encouragement of local accumulation of capital by the agents of imperialism, has brought a new dimension to Lenin's theory. |
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While the theme of the work focuses on a study of imperialism, the articles are somewhat disparate. The book opens with Vardya Burstyn's insightful essay, "The New Imperial Order Foretold," which aptly provides the context for the ensuing discussions and gives meaning to the book's title. In a unique approach, the author brings to life Orwellian and Huxleyan dystopias in a fusion in her analysis of the new imperial order. Specifically, she speaks to the real but unreal world of the US presenting it as a two-faced dialectical world characterized by wealth and comfort and deprivation and pain. But, it is an order that embraces artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, virtual living and dying, and features of totalitarianism on which its total existence is guaranteed. This essay makes excellent reading. |
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The essays by Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin and Christopher Rude, "Finance and American Empire" and "The Role of Financial Discipline in Imperial Order" respectively speak eloquently to the role of finance and the financial oligarchy in holding imperialism in place. Boris Kagarlitsky's "The Russian State in the Age of Empire" seems somewhat out of place, but, nonetheless, it provides the reader with an inside view of the way in which Russia's opportunistic leadership opens itself to co-optation in a continuing rivalry between the US and Europe. Paul Cammack's "'Signs of the Times': Capitalism, Competitiveness, and the New Face of Empire" also speaks to this rivalry in the case of Colombia where European competition has created problems for the US by making that country's leadership in the world of imperialism problematic. A complementary "Terror, Capital and Crude: U.S. Counter Insurgency in Colombia" authored by Doug Stokes allows for a deeper understanding of the way in which US imperialism uses counter-insurgency to stabilize and maintain capitalism in Colombia and to promote its narrow interests through manufacturing consent. |
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Patrick Bond's concern about the political inconsistency displayed by South Africa in relation to US-led imperialism is captured in his insightful piece, "US Empire and South African Subimperialism" which raises the question, in Bond's own words, is South Africa "talking left and walking right"? And, Yuezhi Zhao's well-researched "The Media Matrix: China's Integration into Global Capitalism" examines the role the US media plays in seeking to 'integrate China' into the capitalist sphere of influence. Continuing in the cultural mode, Scott Forsyth's "Hollywood Reloaded: The Film as an Imperial Commodity" analyses the ideological and political importance of the action film in the global spread of imperialism and in celebrating individualism and US "triumphs." |
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On the idea of alternatives and challenges to US dominance, John Grahle's "The European Union and American Power," Frank Deppe's "Habermas' Manifesto for European Renaissance: A Critique," and Dorothy Bole's "The EU and Eastern Europe: Failing the Test as a Better World Power" all challenge the view that Europe's socio-political and economic example, based on a "social Europe," provides a desirable alternative model of social and economic existence to what an imperial US has offered. But, Stephen Gill in "The Contradictions of US Supremacy" clearly indicates, like Burstyn, that US supremacy is declining and is being confronted by a global liberation movement which notes that "another world is possible." This view is critically supported by Vivek Chibber in "Reviving the Developmental State? The Myth of the National Bourgeoisie," Gerard Greenfield in "Bandung Redux: Imperialism and Anti-Globalization Nationalisms in Southeast Asia," and Harriet Friedmann in "Feeding the Empire: the Pathologies of Globalized Agriculture." All carry a common theme: the need for critical analyses of imperialism and past developmental models and strategies by social movements as a first step in challenging the existing dominant social and economic forces. |
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Leys's telling conversation with British radical Tony Benn brings together the intent of the work to provide the inner dynamics of the way in which US imperialism is seeking to colonize and recolonize the world. It is this order that seeks to dominate the capitalist world through subterfuge, terror, militarism, and raw exploitation, but it is an order which is being resisted locally and globally through anti-imperialist movements. |
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As a whole, The Empire Reloaded carries its message well. Its interrogation of imperial domination and social resistance means that it is very relevant, quite perceptive, and thought-provoking. It is also grounded in sound scholarship and can be recommended as a useful text for students of political studies. |
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Judith Soares
The University of the West Indies |
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