The New Imperialism: Crisis and Contradictions in North/South Relations

372 Pages·2000·22.985 MB·English

by  Robert Biel

Wimp orialism
SF9AePPHmMNa°TI2SPA=AT EGRtIAO5IEI E E RN I SaCA TI E SA R STIH
(Orals urb elem Gressert e Taare}st s in North/South Relat .
10nNS
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2022 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/newimperialismcrO00Obiel
About the Author
Dr Robert Biel took a History degree at the University of
Cambridge before studying International Relations at the Uni-
versity of Sussex and the London School of Economics. For
many years he lectured at Birkbeck College, where he taught
courses on Development, and at the School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS). He is currently a member of the
Development Planning Unit, University College, London. He
is the author of Exrocentrism and the Communist Movement (1987).
NOUN NNIUNE
Zed Titles on the Political Economy of Capitalism
Intellectual fashion continues to prompt changes in vocabulary. Today,
‘globalisation’ and the ‘market’ have become the dominant buzzwords. In
reality, however, what is happening is an ongoing, perhaps accelerating,
spread (as well as transformation) of the market nexus between members
of society on the one hand and relations of exploitation of labour on the
other. Whatever the terms different writers may use, the world’s economic
systems ate, with the collapse of the socialist project, almost exclusively
capitalist, and the political economy of capitalism remains a centrally
important focus of social understanding. Zed Books has a strong list of
titles in this area.
Samir Amin, Capitalism in the Age of Globalization: The Management of Contemporary
Society
Asoka Bandarage, Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Political-Economie Analysis
Robert Biel, The New Imperialism: Crisis and Contradictions in North-South Relations
Michel Chossudovsky, Zhe Globalisation of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank
Reforms
Peter Custers, Capital Accumulation and Women’s Labour in Asian Economies
Diplab Dasgupta, Structural Adjustment, Global Trade and the New Political Economy
of Development
Graham Dunkley, Zhe Free Trade Adventure: The WTO, GATT and Globalism: A
Critique
Terence Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein et al., The Age of Transition: Trajectory
of the World-System, 1945-2025
Arthur MacEwan, The Failure of Neo-liberalist Economics and the Alternative
Saral Sarkar, Evo-Socialism or E:co-Capitalism?_A Critical Analysis of Humanity’s Funda-
mental Choices
Hans-Peter Martin and Harald Schumann, The Global Trap: Globalization and the
Assault on Prosperity and Democracy
Harry Shutt, Zhe Trouble With Capitalism: An Enquiry into the Causes of Global
Economic Failure
Kavaljit Singh, The Globalisation of Finance: A Citizen's Guide
David Woodward, Foreign Direct and Equity Investment in Developing Countries: The
Next Crisis?
For full details of this list and Zed’s other subject and general catalogues,
please write to: The Marketing Department, Zed Books, 7 Cynthia Street,
London Ni 9JF, UK or e-mail: [email protected]
Visit our website at: http://www.zedbooks.demon.co.uk
The New Imperialism
Crisis and contradictions in
North—South relations
ROSE RT BPEL
@
Zed Books
LONDON *NEW YORK
KING ALFRED'S COLLEGE
WINCHESTER |
The New Imperialism: Crisis and contradictions in North-South relations was first
published by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London Nr 9JF, UK and
Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY rooIo, USA IN 2000.
Distributed in the USA exclusively by St Martin’s Press, Inc.,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA.
Copyright © Robert Biel, 2000
Cover designed by Andrew Corbett
Set in Monotype Garamond by Ewan Smith
Printed and bound in Malaysia
The right of Robert Biel to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
Biel, Robert, 1945—
The New Imperialism: Crisis and contradictions in North/South
relations / Robert Biel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-85649-746-1 (cased) —ISBN_ 1-85649-757-x (limp)
1. Capitalism. 2. Developing countries—Dependency on foreign
countties. 3. Competition, International. I. Title.
HB501.B494 2000
307'.09172'4-de21
99-95 5943
ISBN 1 85649 746 1 cased
ISBN 1 85649 747 x limp
Contents
Introduction /ix
Capitalist Development in Historical Context
Capitalism within humanity’s social history /1 Traditional approaches
to organising society /2 Grassroots and official spheres /4
International issues in the pre-capitalist world /7 The impact of
capital accumulation /9 The inevitability of mass resistance /15
Capitalist development produces communism /18
Imperialism and the Issue of Large-Scale Changes in
Capitalism 24
Imperialism’s place in the history of capitalism /24 The conflict
between nationalism and globalism in capitalist development /24
Imperialism as a deliberate policy /28 Imperialism as an objective
process /z29 Can capitalism organise itself? /31 Southern élites’
quest to copy the national capitalist model /33 The attempt to
replicate the national capitalist model in the South /34 The scope
for grassroots democracy within a national development strategy /38
The USA re-establishes white supremacy /40 The explanation for
and function of Japanese success /42 Seeking the developmental
principles of mature capitalism /43
The Post-Second World War Era 50
Capitalism at the centre rescues itself by raising consumption /50
The hidden agenda of Keynesianism and its limitations /52_ From
colonialism to multilateralism /56 Dual tactics towards the
communist states: aggression and co-optation /60 The advent
of bipolarity /65
Development: Theory versus Practice nie
‘Development as part of the growth of global capitalism /72
The illusion of development by stages /74_ The myth of the
benefits of urban-rural dualism /75 Industrialising for the domestic
market — import substitution /79 Rationing the transfer of capital —
aid policy /86 Radical nationalism in search of autonomous
development /90
vi THE NEW IMPERIALISM
The Socialist Challenge to Development 98
Breaking with capitalism — the need for a realistic solution /98
The international context of socialist revolution /toz The Soviet
Union seeks to beat capitalism at its own game /103 Subordinating
international struggles to the development of the Soviet state /105
Repercussions of the failure of Soviet strategy /107 The international
significance of Chinese socialism /110 Qualitative elements in the
Chinese model /111
The Third World Challenge ris
Unity as a weapon in challenging the systemic constraints on third-
world development /118 Is it possible to achieve change by working
within the system? /1z0 ‘Targeting terms of trade and commodity
prices /122 A broader challenge to the system: the new international
economic order /124 The deception of the north-south dialogue —
why the movement failed /127
Realities Overlooked — Women’s Labour and Nature ia
Capitalism is not a purely monetary system /131 Women’s
unremunerated labour /132 Feminisation of the workforce and
the search for a new basis of exploitation /134 Capitalism’s
ambiguous stance on scarce resources /137 The south menaced
by the ‘limits to growth’ /139 The contradictions in capitalism’s
claim to modernise agriculture /144 The environmental critique
of agricultural productivity /146 The ‘green revolution’ and the
convergence of politics and business /147
New Technologies and New Management Systems to
the Rescue? 154
The role of technology in periodically reinventing capitalism /15 4
Why a technological revolution made sense in the 19708 /156
Illusions of developing countries during the transition to the
new structure of global accumulation /157_ Towards a ‘new
international division of labour’? /161 The capitalist firm:
growing or shrinking? /162 A new approach to controlling
labour /165 Japan’s role in the structural shift /167 Seeking
to avoid the falling rate of profit /168 ‘Flexibility’ and the
control of labour /170
The Role of the Capitalist Centre within the Current
Phase of the International Political Economy 174
Why capitalism re-invented the free market /174 A failure of
strategic vision /176 Is the new system socially coherent? /178
The international dimension of the new control agenda /180
The trend towards interdependence, and against economic
CONTENTS vii
nationalism /180 The trend to restore nationalism /182
Is speculative capital out of control? /184
From Periphery to Centre? The Newly Industrialising
1o
Country (NIC) Strategy
Igo
A change in development paradigms /190 Why might NIC-style
development be useful for global capital accumulation? /191
Why the NIC idea appeals to élites /194 The social basis of the |
transition to export promotion /197 The special circumstances of
Asia, as spearhead of the NIC trend /201_ The optimistic vision of
export processing /204 Practical pitfalls of export processing /207
Can the post-national dimension of political economy be used to the
south’s advantage? /2z11 China’s example for a strategic campaign by
southern élites /214 The limitations on the Asian NIC model, and
the crisis of the late r990s /220
Permanent Subordination? Structural Adjustment as
HO
Control 231
The historical significance of structural adjustment — the
institutionalisation of control /232 The grand design of social
engineering and its failures /233 In search of a positive content
for structural adjustment /235 The new social engineering
undermined by the profit motive /237 Avoiding the risk of
effective take-off /240 Limitations of the free market as a tool
of control /242
LZ Political Implications of a New Economic Order 248
A new vocabulary of northern dominance /248 How the change
of long cycle relates to the end of the cold war /250 New trends
in élite southern nationalism — compensating for economic weakness
by military trouble-making /252 The contradictory transition to a
post-bipolar world order /254 The new imperialism and its
instability /258
1 Globalisation versus Regionalism 263
Significance of the trend to an increasingly open world economy /263
The historical role of the Uruguay round of GATT /266 The
necessity and dangers of a regionally organised capitalism: does it
undermine globalism? /271 The disorientation of the 1970s and
the apparent fragmentation of global capitalism /274 The new long
cycle and the issue of post-hegemony /275 Towards a new spatial
organisation of capital — the search for local peripheries /276 Can
southern élites generate an autonomous ‘new regionalism’? /278
Asia and the confrontation of different regional agendas /281
Vill THE NEW IMPERIALISM
14 Future Challenge: Grassroots Movements and the
Prospects for a New Social Order 288
Dimensions of change in the period now beginning /288
Capitalism’s changed attitude to the unofficial economy — from denial
to exploitation /289 The role of empowerment in the new capitalist
political economy /295 Why the new political economy of co-opted
empowerment will fail /299 The alternative to empowerment — a
new repressive pact with the state /300 The probable failure of the
new statism, and the openings for a mass-based project /303
The contribution of tradition to a new definition of the national
project /304 The prospects for an independent technology /306
The social basis for new alliances /309 Grassroots campaigns and
the notion of a new ‘mixed’ economics /311 A popular agenda for
the global system /313 Why the political left is still relevant /315
The organised left and the revolutionary potential of the immediate
future /320
Bibliography 328
Index
ye