Prospects for Reform or Rejection – Can Empire Be Repurposed? Flashcards
(22 cards)
What was Hobson’s proposed solution to imperialism?
Therefore, Hobson’s solution is not to solely abandon imperialism as this would be treating the symptom rather than the cause.
As a reformist socialist, Hobson exalted engines of social reform such as trade unions and socialism as “the natural enemies of imperialism.” Their emphasis on equitable distribution would effectively make the need to “fight for foreign markets…disappear.”
What was Hobson’s distinction between imperialism and colonialism, and its implications?
Hobson, despite his critique of imperialism, distinguished it from colonialism, believing that the latter, if properly conducted, could serve a civilising function.
What ideological tradition shaped Hobson’s belief in colonial “civilising” missions? + his language
Writing from a liberal tradition which espoused rational self-government, Hobson believed imperialism to occur when “a nation advances beyond the limits of rationality.”
Yet his use of language, reflecting the context in which he wrote, believes colonialism could support “the lower races,” reveals a limit to Hobson’s critique: though he condemned the fiscal motivations behind imperialism, he did not wholly reject the paternalistic logic that underpinned colonial rule.
How did Hobson’s view fundamentally differ from Du Bois and Gandhi?
This made his position fundamentally different from that of Du Bois and Gandhi, who came to view the entire imperial structure as irredeemable.
What does Lenin argue in “Division of the world amongst capitalist associations”?
Similar to Hobson, in the denouement of his text, one of Lenin’s final chapters, titled “Division of the world amongst capitalist associations,” argues that domestic markets are inextricably linked to the international.
In his view, monopolies continuously seek to expand and once there is nothing left to control at home, monopolies seek to establish international cartels as they agree to carve up the world.
Why does Lenin reject Kautsky’s view of international cartels promoting peace?
Lenin staunchly disagrees with Kautsky’s argument that these “international cartels” foster peace between states as the balance of power is subject to change due to war and shifting allegiances.
How does Lenin describe the era between 1876–1900?
Lenin illustrates how the period of 1876-1900 was characterised by the “final partition of the world,” as there were no new territories to pilfer – only “redivision” is possible as colonial policy in the modern epoch of capitalism was defined by a struggle between great powers.
What does Lenin say about World War I and imperial rivalry?
Having written his pamphlet in 1916, Lenin witnessed World War I as a result of Germany’s imperial anxieties about having a “place in the sun,”
prompting the war after Britain and France held the lion’s share of economic and political dominance.
How does Lenin describe continued imperial control even after formal independence?
Furthermore, Lenin believed that this balance of power meant that even if certain countries were independent, they were largely enmeshed in a “net of financial and diplomatic independence.”
What example does Lenin use to illustrate financial dependency?
He cites Argentina’s dependence on British capital as an example of this, sardonically remarking that it is so dependent on “London that it ought to be described as a British commercial colony.”
What similarity does Lenin share with Du Bois regarding imperial influence over supposedly independent states?
SIMILARITY TO DU BOIS: LIBERIA AND RUBBER
What view did Du Bois initially express in The Present Outlook of the Races (1900)?
Du Bois’s early writings, namely The Present Outlook of The Races (1900), acknowledged that British rule provided greater stability than other colonial powers in Egypt and Liberia.
How does Du Bois’s early language reflect ambivalence about empire?
Du Bois’s use of developmental language such as “To be sure, darker races advanced in culture…according to white races,” reflects a time where his contemporaries such as Léopold Senghor considered how empire could potentially allow for equal and transnational citizenship.
How did Du Bois’s perspective shift by 1915?
However, his later work reflects a clear departure from this perspective. The African Roots of War (1915) illustrates how the colour line is a protean system for exploitation.
What is Du Bois’s argument in Liberia and Rubber (1925)?
In Liberia and Rubber (1925), Du Bois argued that the ideal of the sovereign state will always elide postcolonial states which emerge out of imperial histories that shape their economic and political trajectories.
How does Du Bois describe Liberia’s situation metaphorically?
He anthropomorphises Liberia as “a master of her own fate…instead of…a canoe tossed on raging economic currents…eddied out of the slave trade and into the swirl of WW1.”
What was Du Bois’s vision for global democracy? +context of his actvisim
Indeed, Du Bois was adamant that true democracy and self-determination could not be realised until it is universal.
He argued that the “habit of democracy must encircle the earth,” at the Second Pan-African Congress after the first meeting convened at the same time as the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, in hopes of influencing the delegates deciding the fate of African colonies to allow self-governance as opposed to perpetuating the imperial carving up of nations.
What is the paradox of the international order Du Bois critiques?
Fundamental to Du Bois’s criticism is that the notion that the international order is composed of equal and independent nation state is misleading.
How does Du Bois reveal the hypocrisy of imperial powers in Black Reconstruction (1935)?
In Black Reconstruction (1935), Du Bois maintains that the Western sovereign nation obscured the exploitation of imperial subjects.
He expresses this through his rich and varied use of conceptual devices, namely juxtaposition to attack the self-conceit Western nations hold that they play a stabilising as opposed to destructive force.
What is Du Bois’s concept of “democratic despotism”?
This is evident in his concept of “democratic despotism,” whereby Europe and America espouse liberal democracy domestically yet exercise violence abroad.
How does Du Bois connect WW2 atrocities to imperialism?
This is particularly poignant when considering the context of WW2 in which he wrote, “There was no Nazi atrocity…which the Christian civilisation of Europe had not been practicing against the lower races in all parts of the world in the name of the Superior Race.”
What tone does Du Bois use in this critique, and how is it conveyed?
His tone is sardonic, evident in his capitalisation of “Superior Race,” as this paradox takes aim at how imperial powers pioneered the racial violence seen in WW2 whilst simultaneously conceptualising it as a sui generis phenomenon in Nazi Germany.
