ASTK12574U CANCELED - SEMINAR: Rethinking Imperialism

In recent years terms like ‘neo-imperialism’, ‘empire’, and the ‘new imperialism’ have been re-mobilised in the IR and Politics literatures and the wider social sciences to capture the unprecedented nature of contemporary US power and American interventionist foreign policies. Given this return to the terminology of imperialism in the social sciences, this interdisciplinary seminar sets current imperial practices in their historical and intellectual context by examining the theoretical debates and historical practices of colonialism and imperialism – from the early modern period to the current geopolitical conjuncture. Through this diachronic comparative angle, the objective is to

a)     gain knowledge about the major theories of imperialism and their limits

b)    provide an understanding of the historical specificities of imperial and colonial practices from early modernity to the contemporary age

c)     achieve a theoretically-informed analysis of the specific praxes of past and present forms of imperialism.

The seminar is divided into three sections.

Section I sets out the problems and issues raised in the current revival of the term imperialism in relation to contemporary world politics. It then revisits the classical conceptions of imperialism – economic (Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin) and political (Max Weber, Joseph Schumpeter) – which defined the essential intellectual parameters that informed the evolution, past and present, of the debate on imperialism. It also introduces more recent cultural theories of imperialism (Edward Said) to complement the classical canon.

In Section II we explore different forms of imperialism in historical context – from the early modern colonial empires, via British free trade imperialism to fascist imperial autarchy. Each session combines historical survey readings with influential contemporaneous and contemporary interpretations of the period under investigation.

This will establish the intellectual resources – empirical and theoretical - to move in Section III towards an assessment of the current debates and forms of neo-imperialism, notably in relation to US policy. What can the history of imperialism and its rich theoretical discourse teach us about the causes, nature, and consequences of neo-imperialism in current world politics?

Seminar Structure & Weekly Topics

I: Imperialism: Concept & Theory

•  Week 1: Introduction: The Return of Imperialism
•  Week 2: Economic Theories of Imperialism: Marx and Lenin
•  Week 3: Political Theories of Imperialism: Weber and Schumpeter
•  Week 4: Cultural Theories of Imperialism: Edward Said

II: Imperialism in History

• Week 5: Colonial Empires: Conquest & Exchange
• Week 6: Free Trade Imperialism: Towards Informal Empire?
• Week 7: The New Imperialism: Inter-Imperial Rivalry
• Week 8: US Imperialism: Monroe-Doctrine/League of Nations             
• Week 9: Fascist Imperialism: German Geopolitics

III: Neo-Imperialism

• Week 10: Essay Workshop I: Research Plan & Design
• Week 11: Reading Week for Research Plan
• Week 12: US Hegemony and ‘Neo-Colonialism’
• Week 13: Neoconservatism and the New ‘New Imperialism’