The traditional Marxist understanding of imperialism, at
least as it pertains to the third world, becomes more
intelligible when one adds considerations of class to the
kinds of material we have already seen on finance capital.
Generally marxists who have theorised imperialism in
political terms have shown that the ruling classes of
postcolonial countries are too weak to rule by the liberal
and democratic means (i.e. rule by consent) typical of the
more developed countries. The third world ruling classes
tend to have more coercive methods of ruling their
countries. This is because they originate from the petty
bourgeois strata who assumed leadership of the anti-colonial
or national liberation movements in their countries. When
they assume power at the moment of 'liberation' they find
that this power is relative and conditional. Because they
are petty bourgeois (typically doctors, lawyers, academics)
they do not have economic power of their own, and their
knowledge of the world economic and financial systems tends
to be bookish and naive. On the other hand, because they are
westernised and strongly attracted to a caricature form of
the lifestyle and cultural accoutrements of the American and
European ruling classes, they tend to have weak roots and
power bases amongst the people as well. This latter
deficiency is greatly exacerbated after independence by the
pressures that are placed on them to dance to the tunes of
finance capital, basically to open up their countries to
foreign exploitation, particularly in terms of market
conditions that are favourable to the industrialised nations
and in terms of production of commodities that are more
geared towards foreign needs than their own. One would
almost feel sympathy for the position of these 'mimic men'
if they weren't as nasty and brutish as they inevitably turn
out to be.
This political aspect of imperialism is often described as
neo-colonialism, because it refers to the fact that the
industrialised nations still rule over the third world
countries, but now by indirect means, i.e. through these
'puppet' ruling classes. Both 'imperialism' and
'neo-colonialism' are descriptive terms that are used in
characterising the operation of capital on a global scale
and in a context of highly uneven development. Many of the
better theorists of neo-colonialism are associated with the
African continent, such as Amilcar Cabral and Franz Fanon.
The opinions that I've expressed though are that the
usefulness of this sort of theory has limits that are very
quickly reached. Trying to theorise beyond those limits
leads generally to a blind alley of obscurantism and dubious
politics, basically to nationalism.
Tahir
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