Globalization of Capital and the Nation-State: Imperialism, Class Struggle, and the State in the Age of Global Capitalism

181 Pages·2003·10.38 MB·English

by  Berch Berberoglu

Globalization of Capital and
the Nation-State
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Globalization of Capital
and the Nation-State
Imperialism, Class Struggle, and
the State in the Age of
Global Capitalism
Berch Berberoglu
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham Boulder New York Oxford
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS. INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright, 2003 by Berch Berberoglu
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Berberoglu, Berch.
Globalization of capital and the nation-state : imperialism, class
struggle, and the state in the age of global capitalism / Berch
Berberoglu.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7425-2494-9 (cloth : alk. paper) - ISBN 0-7425-2495-7 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Capitalism. 2. Globalization. 3. Imperialism. 4. International
business enterprises. 5. Competition, International. State, The.
6.
7. United States-Foreign economic relations. 8. Economic
history- 1990- 9. Social history- 1970- I. Title.
HB501 2003
.B444
337-dc2 1
2002 155354
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSIMISO 239.48-1992.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: The Political Economy of Globalization and
Its Contradictions 1
Theories of the Global Economy and Global Empire 13
The Logic of Global Capitalist Expansion: Theories of
Modern Imperialism 25
The Controversy over Globalization, Imperialism, and
Capitalist Development on a World Scale 47
The Postwar Rise of U.S. Capital onto the Global Scene 57
The Globalization of U.S . Capital and the Resurgence of
Interimperialist Rivalry 65
The Imperial State and Control of the Global Political Economy 87
Global Capitalist Expansion and Domestic Economic
Decline in the United States 97
The Globalization of Capital and the Capitalist State in
the Third World 107
Globalization, Class Struggle, and Social Transformation 123
V
vi Contents
Conclusion 135
Bibliography 139
Index 161
About the Author 167
Preface and Acknowledgments
The globalization of capital- the accumulation of capital from the national to
the international level, where the worldwide operations of the transnational
corporations have led to the rise of vast capitalist empires across the world-
had developed long before the concept of “globalization” became fashionable
among Western intellectuals during the closing decades of the twentieth and
the turn of the twenty-first centuries.
Writing in the early twentieth century, John A. Hobson, a liberal British po-
litical economist and member of Parliament, was among the very first critics
of British imperialism who in his book Imperialism: A Study ([1905] 1972)
pointed out in no uncertain terms the very essence of the global expansion of
capital and the domination of the global economy by capitalist interests that
defined the nature and dynamics of international economic relations and, by
extension, political relations of control and domination of the world by pow-
erful financial interests. “Imperialism,” wrote Hobson, “implies the use of the
machinery of government by private interests, mainly capitalist, to secure for
them economic gains outside their country” (94). He went on to state, “The
economic root of Imperialism is the desire of strong organized industrial and
financial interests to secure and develop at the public expense and by the pub-
lic force private markets for their surplus goods and their surplus capital”
(106). “The growing cosmopolitanism of capital,” he added, “has been the
greatest economic change of recent generations. Every advanced industrial
nation has been tending to place a larger share of its capital outside the limits
of its own political area, in foreign countries, in colonies, and to draw a grow-
ing income from this source” (51). Thus, “aggressive Imperialism . . . is a
source of great gain to the investor who cannot find at home the profitable use
vii
viii Preface and Acknowledgments
he seeks for his capital and insists that his government should help him to
profitable and secure investments abroad” (55).
Extending Hobson’s analysis of British imperialism to the rest of the capi-
talist world and placing it in historical context and in class terms, Rosa Lux-
emburg in The Accumulation of Capital ([1913] 1951) and V. I. Lenin in
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism ([ 19171 1975) developed a
general Marxist theory of capitalist imperialism, viewing it as an extension of
the logic of capital accumulation and capitalist development on a world scale.
I develop the arguments of these early theorists of imperialism at the begin-
ning of this book, and apply these theories to explain the globalization of cap-
ital and its relation to the nation-state in the rest of the book. I argue that un-
like what has been claimed by various authors in recent years, “globalization”
is not a new phenomenon or a new stage of the world economy that represents
a qualitatively different form of socioeconomic, political, and cultural rela-
tions designed to promote development and social progress around the world.
I argue that globalization is now, under conditions of transnational monopoly
capital, the highest and most accelerated stage of capitalist imperialism-that
is, it is a global extension of transnational capital and the entire capitalist sys-
tem that has penetrated every comer of the world and has done so with excep-
tional speed and intensity.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the nature, contradictions,
and development of capitalist imperialism and the globalization process as its
highest and most widespread expression throughout the world. Examining the
dynamics of capital accumulation and its inherent (class) contradictions over
the course of modem history, the various chapters contained in this book ex-
pose the inner workings of the capitalist system at the national and global lev-
els. The role of the nation-state in this context of capitalist development is
widely emphasized to explain the logic of the global political economy under
the hegemony of the United States as the leading imperialist power in the late
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
An undertaking of this scope, as I have done in this book, relies on many
years of research, analysis, and reflection. Thus, many of the chapters in-
cluded in this book have been brought together from scattered material pub-
lished in several of my more than twenty authored and edited books written
over the course of the past two decades. The consolidation of my writings on
imperialism and globalization in a single book provides the reader with a
comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of transnational capitalist expansion.
Thus, this book makes an important contribution to an understanding of the
dynamics and contradictions of imperialism and globalization, thereby gen-
erating a much needed discussion and debate on this critical issue of our time.
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
The topics discussed in this book were inspired by my teacher and mentor
Albert Szymanski during my doctoral studies in sociology at the University
of Oregon in the mid-1970s. The bulk of the work that I undertook during this
period resulted in the publication of my book a decade later The Internation-
alization of Capital: Imperialism and Capitalist Development on a World
Scale (1987b). This was followed by two other books: Political Sociology: A
Comparative/Historical Approach ( 1990, 200 1) , which analyzes the nature
and role of the state, and The Political Economy of Development: Develop-
ment Theory and the Prospects for Change in the Third World (1992b), which
investigates the dynamics of development under conditions of worldwide im-
perialist domination.
Throughout the 199Os, I published a number of additional books address-
ing these and related issues, ranging from The Legacy of Empire: Economic
Decline and Class Polarization in the United States (1992a), which examines
the rise and decline of the U.S. economy in the 1970s and 1980s, to Labor
and Capital in the Age of Globalization: The Labor Process and the Chang-
ing Nature of Work in the Global Economy (2002), which scrutinizes the la-
bor process and relations between labor and capital under conditions of glob-
alization.
Most of the chapters in this book originally appeared in my earlier books
published over the course of the past fifteen years. Chapters 1,4, 5, 7, and
parts of 8 are from The Legacy of Empire (1992a); chapters 3,6,a nd parts of
8 were originally published in The Political Economy of Development
(1992b); chapter 2 was published in The Internationalization of Capital
(1987a); chapter 9 was originally entitled “Imperialism and Class Struggle in
the Late 20th Century” and published in the journal Humanity and Society
(1996). While my books The Legacy of Empire and The Political Economy of
Development are currently out of print and their copyright has reverted back
to me, I thank Nora Johnson, the rights and permissions coordinator at
Praeger, for granting me permission to publish chapter 2 from another of my
books, The Internationalization of Capital ( 1987b). I would also like to thank
Corey Dolgon, editor of Humanity and Society, for granting me permission to
publish chapter 9. My thanks go to all these publishers for enabling me to
bring together my writings on imperialism and globalization in this book. The
complete revision and updating of the original data and analysis provided in
each chapter makes this book an especially important undertaking to spark
debate on this important and controversial topic that will be discussed for
years to come.
Friends and colleagues who have contributed to the shaping of my ideas on
imperialism and globalization that are prominent in much of my writings over