RE: [OPE] Britain--parasitic and decaying capitalism: A comment

From: Paul Cockshott <wpc@dcs.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Thu Jan 14 2010 - 11:47:15 EST

Gerry
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1. the governments in the former colonial nations are controlled often by a small elite of wealthy native landowners and capitalists (who often secured that wealth initially as a consequence of colonialism) who work hand-in-hand with one or more imperialist nations to continue the existing economic (and, often, extra-economic) relations between the 'sovereign' nations and the imperialist nations. And, (a nod to David Y and Paul B), bribery is commonly used in these instances (imperialist nations know how to reward their supporters - and punish their enemies - in the neo-colonies).
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Paul

Well dominance by a small property owning elite is true of all societies between primitive communism and socialism, so what is relevant about the fact that this trait exists in the former colonies other than to say that they are no longer primitive communist societies?

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Gerry

2. international institutions (like the IMF, the WB, the WTO, the UN), which are controlled by imperialist nations, can exercise more indirect control over those nations such that the economic (and extra-economic) interests of the imperialist nations are preserved.

The concept of neo-colonialism allows us to understand a major reality in the post-WW2 world: even following independence, the wealth in former colonized nations still tends to be controlled by 'outside' forces in the advanced capitalist nations.
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Paul
That is unspecific in the extreeme. You are lumping Ghana and Malaysia, India and Dahomey into one bundel. You link together in one group states which have very different levels of economic development and very different levels of independent capitalist classes.

Are you claiming that India is a neo-colony !
Sureley not, it is a rising world power.

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Received on Thu Jan 14 11:54:37 2010

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