Abstract
Our political world is impoverished by the lack of the category ‘imperialism’. Academic and media languages have succeeded in consigning it to history. Use of the category imperialism to describe our present condition is often met with derision; it is seen in the bourgeois tongue as too simplistic, as outdated, as Leftist bombast. But what other category do we have to explain the kinds of extra-economic institutional coercion meted out to the Third World during the 1980s debt crisis or to Greece in its ongoing tragedy? Academic and media languages would like to measure these political conflicts in the terms of mainstream social science – as state failure and economic mismanagement, as the imbalance between the greed of unions and the sensibleness of the bankers. Empirical description takes the place of theoretical understanding – a mass of data and information clogs up the arteries, while careful theoretical assessment of the problem is set aside. The Left is on the defensive, unable to explain why the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) wants to bomb this country or why the International Monetary Fund wants to extract its pound of flesh from that country.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
