Imperialism

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Imperialism derives from the Latin word impe-rium, which can be translated into English as “rule” or “authority.” The related words empire and emperor had been in use since the Roman times, but the term imperialism began to be used in the late 19th century. The original usages of the word were very specific. It was initially used to refer to Napoleon III's pretentious efforts in the 1860s to restore the glorious era of Napoleon I. Soon afterward, in the 1870s, imperialism started to be used in reference to the overseas expansionist policies of the British government. It became more widely used and acquired a broader meaning in the 1890s in the course of public debates over the European states' rush to carve up Asia and Africa as part of their colonial empires. By the turn of the 20th century, the term imperialism was added to the scientific vocabulary as intellectuals began to propose theories of imperialism. There is still much controversy and fierce debate over the meaning, causes, and consequences of imperialism. Furthermore, the word itself carries negative connotations. Despite these problems surrounding the term, it is a scientifically valid concept used by social scientists to explain the relations of domination or control between countries or nations.

The British liberal economist John A. Hobson is credited as the founder of the first modern theory of imperialism. His book Imperialism: A Study, published in 1902, had a major influence on subsequent research on the phenomenon. Hobson's study focused on the imperialism of the late 19th century, which was marked by the intense competition of the major European states for overseas colonies and spheres of influence. The crux of Hobson's theory was that late 19th-century imperialism was new in that it had economic roots in industrial capitalism. His argument that European imperialism resulted from maladjustments in the capitalist economy became the basis of the subsequent Marxist theories of imperialism, and much scholarly debate on the economic causes of imperialism to this day has revolved around the question of the relationship of imperialist expansion to capitalism. Hobson argued that the capitalist systems are faced with the major dilemma of under-consumption and overproduction. This dilemma results from capitalists' tendency to oversave and workers' lack of purchasing power to consume all the products of industrial capitalism. Capitalist employers seek to maximize their profits by keeping wages low. Low wages dampen the purchasing power of workers, which in turn makes it difficult for capitalists to find profitable investment outlets at home. Capitalists start searching for profitable ventures abroad in the economically less developed regions in order to invest their surplus capital and profits. The result was the imperialist expansion and colonial acquisitions by the great capitalist states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite Hobson's pioneering work and influence, the most well-known theory of imperialism in the 20th century was that of Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin's theory drew heavily on earlier Marxist writings as well as Hobson's work on imperialism. In his widely cited Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, written in 1916, Lenin described imperialism as a stage of capitalist development. Imperialism as the monopoly stage of capitalism exhibits several key features: (a) the concentration of production and capital in large cartels; (b) the merging of banking capital with industrial capital, giving rise to financial oligarchies; (c) the export of surplus capital from the more advanced capitalist countries to the economically underexploited regions, which promises higher rates of profit; (d) the rise of international capitalist monopolies that economically divide up the world among themselves; (e) and, finally, the territorial division of the world into spheres of influence and colonies among the great capitalist states. Lenin argued that imperialism was an inevitable outcome of the monopoly stage of capitalism because of the inherent contradictions of capitalism, including overproduction, underconsumption, and the tendency of the rate of capitalist profit to fall. Imperialism could provide no more than a temporary solution to these contradictions. Once the capitalist powers had par-celed out the entire world into spheres of economic interest, or colonial territories for exploitation, intense rivalry among them would provoke international wars, leading to the downfall of capitalism. Lenin explained the outbreak of World War I in terms of imperialism. He believed that only socialism could bring an end to imperialism. Thus, Lenin rejected Hobson's reformist proposal that imperialism would no longer be necessary as an outlet for surplus capital if domestic markets were expanded through increases in workers' wages and redistribution of income within the capitalist system. There are a number of other Marxist theories of imperialism dating to the early 20th century, including those offered by Rudolf Hilferding, Nicolai Bukharin, Karl Kautsky, and Rosa Luxemburg. They are mostly variations on the thesis of the causal relationship between imperialism and the contradictions of capitalism; they all put varying emphases on the factors of surplus capital, the declining rate of capitalist profits, underconsumption, intercapitalist competition for markets, and sources of raw materials in explaining this relationship.

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