Imperialismus und Globalisierung

Anmerkungen zu zwei Theoriekomplexen

Abstract

The article revisits classical theory of imperialism, stressing the commonalities in seeing imperialism as an outgrowth of the basic dynamics and restructuring of capitalism, as well as the controversy over the conceptualisation of this dynamic. During World War I, the Bolshevik theorists, Bukharin and Lenin, took up the theme and gave it important twists that had grave consequences, both for later Comintern policy and for Soviet planning practice. In comparison to the classical theories, conceptualisations of globalisation address a similar, though also markedly changed situation in much more complex ways. The article discusses mainly the issues of the state and US hegemony, in connection with claims for a resuscitation of Kautsky's concept of ultra-imperialism and the different forms of wars that haunt the present, in contradistinction to the early 20th century.