Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A History

by Murray Noonan

For Marxists, imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism. Critical analysis of imperialism has been a feature of Marxist throughout the twentieth century. The conceptualising and theorising of imperialism by Marxists has evolved over time in response to developments in the global capitalist economy and in international politics. Murray Noonan here provides the first complete analysis of Marxist theories of imperialism in over two decades. Presenting three phases of imperialist theories, he analyses and compares 'Classical’, ‘Neo’ and ‘Globalisation-era’ Marxist theories of imperialism. The book moves chronologically, tracking the origins of imperialism theorised by J.A. Hobson at the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present day. He critically identifies and engages with a new 'Globalisation-era' phase of Marxist imperialism theory. Through a detailed scholarly analysis of the history and evolution of these theories, Noonan offers vital new perspectives on imperialist theory and its relevance and application in the twenty-first century.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Theory, Economics

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2017

Reviews

[Reid tries to read · Rating 4 out of 5]

My main take away was that after Sweezy and Baran, Marxist writings on imperialism really degraded until Hardt and Negri wrote something so bad (‘Empire’) that everyone had to come out of he woodwork and shit on them with their better theories of imperialism.

[Halcyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A History' is perhaps best to be considered a companion piece to Brewer's earlier work, acting to bring it into the modern day. When the latter is counterpoised to this book, one can clearly see why it was titled a 'Critical Survey', as Noonan adopts a sickly deferential tone and in the main refuses to commit to clear criticism himself. His preferred method of choice is to refer to other writers, forming a sort of 'survey of surveys' on imperialism.

Noonan covers similar ground to Brewer; whatever points he may score over him with the inclusion of a section on Kautsky are rendered moot by his glaring ommission of any mention whatsoever of Arghiri Emmanuel (I fail to see how his break with Marxist orthodoxy is so much more egregious than say, Frank or Wallerstein, to warrant such treatment). Noonan also avoids any mention of Warren and includes no substitute for the section in Brewer's work titled 'Classes and Politics in the Third World', which admittedly is tangential and haphazard in it's treatment. What, then, is the merit to this book? It is the survey of what are dubbed 'Globalisation-era' Marxist thinkers, the most important of which being David Harvey and Ellen Meiksins Wood, as well as covering Hardt & Negri's obfuscatory 'Empire'. Remarkably, this history already seems dated since the formers abandonment of the concept of imperialism all-together, and it does not cover Cope nor the Patnaiks.

I also appreciated the more thorough treatment of Wallerstein, who was dismissed by Brewer and devoted the good part of but three pages, and more clearly distinguishes him from the dependency theory of Frank. Noonan also explores the later work of Frank and Amin published after their coverage by Brewer. Where Noonan does throw his hat in the ring, he flounders; he adopts an uncharacteristically passive-aggressive tone when dealing with John Smith's 'Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century', bizzarely making the claim that India provides a problem for the classification of the world into a global north and south. One can identify Noonan's bias: he resents Smith's (admittedly, deeply flawed) attempt to revive a form of dependency theory because such an approach for him seems to have been responsible for the decline in Marxist thinking on imperialism after the 70's due to its theoretical weaknesses.

Those hoping this work will offer up a clear explanation on how imperialism works in the modern era will be disappointed; while Brewer's remarks were completely erroneous, he at least provided *something*. Noonan instead opts to assemble a conclusion consisting of a number of vague suggestions for later Marxists working on imperialism to heed, alongside a rather poignant call to arms: "For Marxists, theoretical work is not undertaken just to understand or better explain the world as it is, rather the point of theory is to inform the practice of changing the world. This last point means helping to rid the world of the incubus of capitalist imperialism, which has been a blight for the majority of the world’s people for over a century."

[Michael Skora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as sophisticated or scrutinizing as Brewer’s work, but easier to understanding and covers key works published after the 1980s.

[Santiago]

no rating

reading this has made me realize just how many crackpots there are in academia, even the marxist ones. also this did not go into depth about mandel nor even mention arghiri emmanuel