Imperialist Globalization

Abstract

One debate that is underway today and that has important political implicationsinvolves the character of the current phase of capitalist development. There existdifferent ideas about whether there is a unipolar or multipolar tendency, if the conceptof imperialism continues to be useful, or whether today we are in the midst of a newand unprecedented phase. This article defends the idea that the current phase ofcapitalism is a phase that approximates the realization of a universal empire. This is aperspective that existed even before capitalism, buts its fundamental characteristicsare expressed in a deepening of capitalist imperialism, particularly financially andmilitarily. Nevertheless, the very contradictions of imperialism will impede therealization of world empire.