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Postimperialism is a theory of political and social change inspired by the explosive growth of transnational corporate enterprise during the latter 20th century. Its foundations are derived from two primary sources: political theories of the modern business corporation and class-analytical theories of society. However, the postimperialist theory of class formation is predicated on power relations, a departure from conventional class analysis that renders the theory applicable universally to countries at different stages of economic development. Postimperialist thinkers contend that the formation of a global bourgeoisie, resulting from transnational class coalescence, coincides with the evolution of institutions and public policies that are compatible with socialist as well as capitalist principles.
This book provides theoretical contributions to postimperialist theory as well as case studies of both individual countries (Britain, Cuba, the United States) and regions of the world (Africa, postcommunist Europe). It also contains historical analyses of the origins of postimperialist thought in Mexico and the United States. Topics considered include the transfer of cultural and ideological values, multilateral legal responses to transnational oligopolies, the problems of predatory corporate behavior and perceived neoimperial threats, working-class responses to the challenges of transnational enterprise, the effects of resistance to market-based economic reforms, opposition to imperial spheres of influence, and postimperialism's contributions to theories of international politics.
List of contents
Foreword by Gérard Chaliand
Introduction by David G. Becker and Richard L. Sklar
Postimperialism: Concepts and Implications by Richard L. Sklar
Postimperialism and Realism in Theories of International Relations by David G. Becker
Mergers, Markets, and the Transformation of International Law by Scott R. Bowman
The Production of Culture in the Postimperialist Era: The World versus Hollywood? by Harvey B. Feigenbaum
Economic Globalization and Political Action: The Working Class in Industrialized Democracies by Frank Myers
Is History Repeating Itself?: The Political Economy of Eastern Europe in the Interwar and Postcommunist Eras by Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Stephen E. Hanson
Postimperialism Postponed: Foreign Investment and Political Change in Cuba by Jonathan Rosenberg
The Managerial Bourgeoisie: Capital Accumulation, Development, and Democracy by John J. Quinn
From Imperialism to Postimperialism: An Early Mexican Response to Transnational Capitalism by Arturo Grunstein
The Mexican Revolution as a Province of Postimperialism by Keith A. Haynes
The Open Door, Imperialism, and Postimperialism: Origins of U.S. Twentieth Century Foreign Relations, Circa 1900 by Martin J. Sklar
Postimperialism: An Annual Report by David G. Becker
Bibliography
Index
About the author
DAVID G. BECKER is Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. He is the author of
The New Bourgeoisie and the Limits of Democracy (1983) and coauthor of
Postimperialism (1987).
RICHARD L. SKLAR is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles and has taught at universities in Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. He is past president of the African Studies Association. His publications include
Corporate Power in an African State (1975),
Postimperialism (with three coauthors, 1987), and
African Politics and Problems in Development (1991).
