Socialist Register 2004: The New Imperial Challenge

Edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys

For forty years, the annual Socialist Register has brought together leading writers on the left to investigate aspects of a common theme. Contributors to this volume consider what imperialism means in the new century by examining the U.S.-led imperialist project currently transforming relations of global power.

The essays in this fortieth volume of the Socialist Register analyze the unique nature of the new U.S. empire and challenge the left to develop a better theory of imperialism and its relation to globalized capitalism. Other essays examine the limits and contradictions of “Americanization” as a dimension of U.S. global power; the facts and myths surrounding U.S. strategic interests in Iraq and the “war on terror” ecological imperialism, and the significance of international migration in the new imperial order.

Contents

Preface

• Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin, Global Capitalism and American Empire
• Aijaz Ahmad, Imperialism of Our Time
• David Harvey, The “New” Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession
• Gregory Albo, The Old and New Economics of Imperialism
• Noam Chomsky, Truths and Myths about the Invasion of Iraq
• Amy Bartholomew and Jennifer Breakspear, Human Rights as Swords of Empire
• Paul Rogers, The U.S. Military Posture: A Uniquely Benign Imperialism?
• Michael T. Klare, Blood for Oil: The Bush-Cheney Energy Strategy
• John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark, Ecological Imperialism: The Curse of Capitalism
• Tina Wallace, NGO Dilemmas: Trojan Horses for Global Neoliberalism?
• John S. Saul, Globalization, Imperialism, Development: False Binaries and Radical Resolutions
• Emad El-Din Aysha, The Limits and Contradictions of “Americanization”
• Bob Sutcliffe, Crossing Borders in the New Imperialism

Leo Panitch is professor of political science at York University in Toronto. Colin Leys was for many years professor of political science at Queen’s University in Canada.