Some years back, parallel to the crisis that the traditional proposals of the classical left had suffered after the disappearance of the so-called Soviet bloc, the term imperialism fell into disuse to the point of almost disappearing from the political vocabulary, and being relegated to history books. It was not modern to speak of imperialism, nor even, almost, to declare oneself a leftist; at most, a progressive. Nevertheless, the world continues to turn, and with the reinforcement of neoliberalism and of its toughest consequences, that have led to the dominion of markets and of the economic elites over the life of their states and peoples, once again this term has come under discussion.

Thus, adjusting to the new political and ideological realities in which we live, we need to revise and update the term and its meaning. What is interesting in this sense is a novel approach that refers to the new imperialism based principally on the transfer of the accumulation of power from the traditional political classes and the nation-states into the hands of the economic elites.  However, before we do so, and to understand it better, we shall explore some fundamental elements of classic imperialism.

Hanna Arendt observed some time ago that the endless accumulation of property required at the same time an endless accumulation of power. That is to say, the more wealth one has, the more power one needs for its protection and amplification. History has shown that different imperialisms of the past fulfilled this rule to a large extent, with the understanding that the accumulation of power also required, at the same time, greater occupation and control of territory.  Thus, we have the three essential elements of imperialist development, that is: capital, power and territory. So the term imperialism was to be applied to the theory and the political practice that promotes domination over peoples and countries through the employment of force, whether it be economic, military, political or, in the majority of cases, the use of all three.

However, this expansion and territorial dominion in order to maintain the accumulation of capital and power was at the same time its Achilles’s heel, its weakest point. A rapid view of past imperialisms will allow us to see with greater clarity this situation, reiterated continually over history, at least in the West. Even US dominion, with its new elements, such as the control of territories from a distance and without needing a permanent and direct presence, and which is now possibly beginning its decline as an imperial power, for the past decade is beginning to feel pain in this weak point. When, at the end of the last century, it centered its objectives on the preferential control of the Middle East and its natural resources, convinced that Latin America was under their absolute control, it was precisely this continent that showed the first cracks with the development of the so-called progressive governments.

But what we want to describe here is a profound change in the concept and characteristics of the empire today. Because what many indicators point to is that the hegemony and control of power is no longer necessarily based on direct territorial domination according to the traditional model. On the contrary, the central axis today is rather the accumulation and concentration of power in the hands of those who have already accumulated an insulting mass of capital, that is to say, the economic elites, and this, irrespective of their state, national or identity affiliation.

This helps us to understand that, as a characteristic, they will no longer be like the old empires, the Spanish, British, Russian, French or US ones, exercised from their respective metropolises, but a new kind that extends its domination from different focal points dispersed across the planet, which have become new centres of power. In other words, the new imperialism can be exercised from points so diverse as the City of London, Wall Street, Frankfurt, Shanghai or Silicon Valley. What is now important is the concentration of power in the hands of several groups of transnationals (banking, financial, extractive, construction, pharmaceutical, chemical...), which from their respective boards of administration (the elites) will define the policies, the economic orientation, development interests and the lives of millions and millions of persons, as well a that of the planet itself on which we live. This is the new imperialism that is seeking to reinforce neoliberalism, following the crisis of capitalism of recent years, characterized by a maximum concentration of power in the hands of the economic elites, once the traditional political classes have been subordinated, and through the decentralization of this same power, that no longer resides in the imperial metropolis, but in divers foci of power distributed throughout the world.

Thus we can better understand better how a simple revision will allow us to count a handful of transnational corporations that today control the world economy, dictate its priorities and are present in the principal centres of power and decision-making; in some cases very visibly and in others on an apparent second plane (the World Bank, the Central European Bank, the International Monetary Fund, BID, the stock-exchanges, the fora of Davos or Bilderberg...).

The accumulation of capital in a few hands is absolutely controlled, and the same kind of control is exercised over political power, now no longer de-concentrated and dispersed in a multitude of political or governmental forces, but with a delegated (subordinate) role assigned to them from the economic elites, the authentic holders of what was once independent political power. So an undeniable parallelism has emerged in recent years between the loss of sovereignty of States and the increase of power of the transnationals, that at first was centered on economic decisions, but have now have advanced towards the control of other social and political spheres, extending to the life of the planet itself.

Thus today the big decisions that are urgently needed, such as agreements for preventing climate change or guarantees for the sustainability of life, including the outcome of wars or the process of impoverishment of millions of people, must first pass through the hidden sieve of the boards of administration of the big corporations, that decide even the limits of the principal national laws or the international agreements and treaties, so as to avert risks for their main goals, principles or profits. We should not forget that the ideological basis of this economistic imperialism is today rooted, beyond the maintenance and development of the private sector, in the privatization of the public sphere and common resources on a planetary scale for its exploitation and the blind accruement of profits. Always in accord with the permanent accumulation of capital and power for its endless growth.

With respect to maintaining territorial control, it is not strictly necessary to ensure direct presence of military and administrative forces; on the contrary, it is exercised through the control of finance, the balance of payments and public debt.  Thus it is very simple for the economic powers to strangle the viability of states if they do not define their political and economic directives “conveniently”, as was demonstrated recently in Greece. But this does not mean that the new imperialism totally discards the use of force to reorient experiences that might offer possible alternatives to neoliberal control. This is obvious through the so-called soft or institutional coups d’état (Honduras, Paraguay, Brazil...), or other hard ones of the usual kind (Egypt).

Thus, while in the classical phase of imperialism this system presupposed a distribution of the world among various powers, today this territorial control is no longer strictly necessary. Nor is it necessary for this power to reside in the control exercised by a certain political class of a concrete metropolis. On the contrary, there is a transnational class (the economic elites) made up of the administrative boards of various large transnational corporations coordinated across different spaces and networks of power, that decide about the present and future of the greater part of humanity. But all of this could change, because no empire is infinite nor inalterable.

12/07/2017

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

Jesús González Pazos

A member of Mugarik Gabe