When the history of the Digital Age is written the story will be boiled down to the empires created by 5 men: Bill Gates, Steve Case, Larry Ellison, John Chambers, & Jeff Bezos. Yet, who really are they? Leibovich spent 18 months interviewing the men themselves & over 400 people who have known them best: family, friends, neighbors, former teachers, classmates & lovers, colleagues, employees, & adversaries. Combining the info. he gleaned with his own unique take on these men, Leibovich has written a fascinating collection of biographies emphasizing their little known & deeply personal quirks, motivations, warts, demons, & vanities. What are the common denominators that drove them to invent, conquer & rule their own economic realm?
What right does any country have over another's policies and internal affairs,nd are they right to use military power to change them? Interest in theeopolitics of the 'new imperialism' has surged in recent years. This broadnd wide-ranging collection of articles critically examines the mainntellectual justifications for it, and poses a number of challenginguestions: is preemptive regime change permissible - even right - in the namef 'military humanism', and should military power be used to further theurported goals of human and women's rights and democracy globally? In theftermath of the events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent invasions offghanistan and Iraq, there seems to be a shift away from multilateralism,he inviolability of state sovereignty and the rule of international law. In "he New Imperialists", it is argued that the rhetoric of human rights,omen's rights, democracy and good governance espoused by the defenders ofhis new doctrine is a rationalization for a new imperialism which willndermine the very political and moral values it purports to advance.;With
Named one of the ten best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune A Publishers Weekly best book of 2019 | A 2019 NPR Staff Pick A pathbreaking history of the United States’ overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire We are familiar with maps that outline all fifty states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an “empire,” exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories—the islands, atolls, and archipelagos—this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light. We travel to the Guano Islands, where prospectors collected one of the nineteenth century’s most valuable commodities, and the Philippines, site of the most destructive event on U.S. soil. In Puerto Rico, Immerwahr shows how U.S. doctors conducted grisly experiments they would never have conducted on the mainland and charts the emergence of independence fighters who would shoot up the U.S. Congress. In the years after World War II, Immerwahr notes, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it put innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture to use, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of colonies. Rich with absorbing vignettes, full of surprises, and driven by an original conception of what empire and globalization mean today, How to Hide an Empire is a major and compulsively readable work of history.
The public debate over American interventionism at the dawn of the 20th century is vividly brought to life in this “engaging, well-focused history” (Kirkus, starred review).
With the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States' long war on communism was replaced by a perpetual war on terror. The authors posit that this neo-imperialistic phase is but the latest development in a line of thought and action established after World War II. But, they say, 2005 is not 1945. Today, they argue, the United States uses its power to deplete the resources of the developing world, and to compel the rest of the world to remain dependent on American management of the global economy. Contending that this situation is ultimately untenable, they assert that the United States is entering a period of deep crisis. The best thing for American neo-imperialists to do to avert their worst nightmare—a strategic and economic alliance among Europe, Russia, China, and OPEC—would be to arrange for the orderly withdrawal of American power before it is too late for the human and environmental security of the world. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Cold War slowly gave way to a new world order in which the United States was left as the lone superpower. But the organizing principle that would characterize the early 21st century was as yet unclear, until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Now it is clear that the long war on Communism has been replaced by a perpetual war on terror. Regardless of how long American troops remain in Iraq, and irrespective of further military actions, George W. Bush will continue to be a wartime president whose foreign policy is dominated by the Pentagon. And yet, the authors argue, this neo-imperialistic phase, with its emphasis on Eurasian oil supplies, is but the latest development in a line of thinking and acting in the world that was established by such men as Dean Acheson and Paul Nitze after World War II. But 2005 is not 1945, and the United States, despite Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney's assertions, is not liberating Iraq and Afghanistan in the same way that U.S. forces liberated Germany and Japan; it is not reconstructing Iraq or the former Yugoslavia as it did when it rebuilt war torn western Europe with the Marshall Plan. The United States, with its thinly stretched military and deficit-laden economy, does not possess the means to do so today. Instead, the authors maintain, the United States is simply depleting the developing world's natural resources, compelling the rest of the developed world to remain dependent on American management of the global economy. This situation is ultimately untenable, the authors argue, and as a result, the United States is entering a period of deep crisis. The best thing for American neo-imperialists to do to avert their worst nightmare—a strategic and economic alliance among Europe, Russia, China, and OPEC—would be to arrange for the orderly withdrawal of American power before it is too late for the human and environmental security of the world as a whole.
This volume reiterates the relevance of imperialism in the present, as a continuous arrangement, from the early years of empire-colonies to the prevailing pattern of expropriation across the globe. While imperialism as an arrangement of exploitation has sustained over ages, measures deployed to achieve the goals have gone through variations, depending on the network of the prevailing power structure. Providing a historical as well as a conceptual account of imperialism in its ‘classical’ context, this collection brings to the fore an underlying unity which runs across the diverse pattern of imperialist order over time. Dealing with theory, the past and the contemporary, the study concludes by delving into the current conjuncture in Latin America, the United States and Asia. The Changing Face of Imperialism will provide fresh ideas for future research into the shifting patterns of expropriation – spanning the early years of sea-borne plunder and the empire-colonies of nineteenth-century to contemporary capitalism, which is rooted in neoliberalism, globalization and free market ideology. With contributions from major experts in the field, this book will be a significant intervention. It will be of interest to scholars and researchers of economics, politics, sociology and history, especially those dealing with imperial history and colonialism.
Winner of the first Paul A. Baran-Paul M. Sweezy Memorial Award for an original monograph concerned with the political economy of imperialism, John Smith's Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century is a seminal examination of the relationship between the core capitalist countries and the rest of the world in the age of neoliberal globalization.Deploying a sophisticated Marxist methodology, Smith begins by tracing the production of certain iconic commodities-the T-shirt, the cup of coffee, and the iPhone-and demonstrates how these generate enormous outflows of money from the countries of the Global South to transnational corporations headquartered in the core capitalist nations of the Global North. From there, Smith draws on his empirical findings to powerfully theorize the current shape of imperialism. He argues that the core capitalist countries need no longer rely on military force and colonialism (although these still occur) but increasingly are able to extract profits from workers in the Global South through market mechanisms and, by aggressively favoring places with lower wages, the phenomenon of labor arbitrage. Meticulously researched and forcefully argued, Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century is a major contribution to the theorization and critique of global capitalism.
Chinese generally look condescendingly on the humanity of black Africans, but over the past decades there have been a huge influx of Chinese on the African continent. What is driving the Chinese to the African continent? Are the Chinese in Africa to help Africa develop in their so-called "win-win, or south-south"development method? Or are the Chinese in Africa to exploit the huge super abundant raw materials and mineral resources to fuel their expanding industries?It is true that the Chinese are currently building monumental stadiums, presidential palaces, conference halls, but as much as Africans are grateful for these they do not represent economic progress for Africa. What we see though is Chinese offering huge loans to African nations in return for their raw materials. Ironically, most of the loans end up in the hands of Chinese contractors undertaking the construction projects, Chinese labor working in the projects, and Chinese materials and products used in the projects. In the end African governments are left holding the bag of huge repayments back to China. Moreover, some, if not, many of the infrastructure are often shoddy as the case of Angolan hospital, and many roads in Africa have demonstrated. Additionally, Chinese also support African dictators like Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Omar Bashir of Sudan, Santos of Angola and many others with deadly weaponry to oppress African citizens. Finally, the Beijing Consensus though has helped lift many Chinese out of poverty cannot be replicated in Africa, because of its authoritarian nature.
A sweeping overview of world affairs and, especially having come across the name of William Yandell Elliott, Professor of Politics at Harvard through the first half of the 20th century. Sean found that Elliott had created a kindergarten of Anglo-American imperialists amongst his students, who included Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Samuel P. Huntington, and McGeorge Bundy. Upon further investigation, Sean came to understand Elliott's own integral role, connecting the modern national-security establishment with the British Round Table Movement's design to re-incorporate America into the British 'empire'. Whether that goal was achieved will be left to the reader to decide. However, it cannot be denied that W.Y. Elliott's life and intellectual history serves to demonstrate the interlocking relationship between academia, government, and big business.
