I think that, historically speaking, the capitalist mode of production is
one among very few modes of production which is intrinsically
"expansionary", and it has been the only mode of production that has proved
to be globally expansionary.
As Marx explained, capital can exist only if it is constantly expanding.
Even if the surplus product is not used for the purpose of increasing
output, competition does force market expansion anyway.
In practice, one aspect of market expansion is territorial expansion, and in
this sense capitalism is intrinsically imperialist, since it involves a
perpetual quest to control more business territory. In that context, the
term "economic imperialism" makes sense.
Rosa Luxemburg's definition is also quite useful: "Imperialism is the
political expression of the accumulation of capital in its competitive
struggle for what remains still open of the non-capitalist environment" (The
accumulation of capital, p. 446).
One could rephrase this to mean that imperialism is the superstructural
expression of economic forces in the international sphere.
J.
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Received on Thu Mar 31 10:22:43 2011
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