The question of imperialism and war remains a central one for socialists everywhere. As we prepare this issue of Spectrefor publication, in fact, the United States has been waging war on Iran for more than six months. Yet left analysis of the new modalities of imperialism today remain under-developed. However much we can learn from classic Marxist works of the early twentieth century by the likes of Rudolph Hilferding, Rosa Luxemburg, V. I. Lenin, and Nikolai Bukharin, they are all more than a century old. Marxist analyses of empire today are in need of fresh theoretical innovations, however much these may build upon the strengths of classical interventions.
To this end, Spectre has invited a group of creative Marxist writers to share some reflections on configurations of empire today. You will find a diverse set of contributions that open up crucial questions of the moment. There is no unified position here. You will find both differences of approach and conclusions. And this is as it should be as we seek to deepen our understanding and our anti-imperialist practice. Steve Maher and Scott Aquanno begin our roundtable by making a strong case for the continuing global power of US empire. While agreeing that US hegemony continues, Adam Hanieh argues that US policy in the Middle East reveals a growing concern with the rising power of China—and that this is crucial to understanding global and regional rivalries. Meanwhile, Ingrid Kvangraven proposes that the relationship between global production and world money has become disjointed as US dollar dominance sits in uneasy relation to China’s emergence as a center of world accumulation. Addressing the dynamics of empire, Kevan Harris examines three modalities of imperial rule—exploitation, exclusion, and accumulative advantage—arguing that the floundering efforts of the US to dominate Iran today reveal systemic weaknesses. Finally, Sirisha Naidu uses the case of India to remind us of the continuing centrality of land dispossession and extractivism to the dynamics of world imperialism.
None of these contributions are the last word. But they all deeply engage vital questions about the shifting patterns of imperial power in our world. It is a dangerous world, one wracked by war, great power rivalries, dispossession, and exclusion. Spectre offers this roundtable as a step toward enlarging our creative resources for understanding the world today—all the better to change it.
Structural Power amid Political Weakness
Stephen Maher and Scott Aquanno
Beyond Multipolarity
Adam Hanieh
The Money Fetish and Empire
Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven
What the Weapon Is Made Of
Kevan Harris
Brown Sahibs for White Sahibs
Sirisha C. Naidu