Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influence from a global superpower, as well as in opposition to colonial rule. Anti-imperialism can also arise from a specific economic theory, such as in the Leninist interpretation of imperialism (Vladimir Lenin's theory of surplus value being exported to less developed nations in search of higher profits, eventually leading to imperialism), which is derived from Lenin's 1917 work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. People who categorize themselves as anti-imperialists often state that they are opposed to colonialism, colonial empires, hegemony, imperialism and the territorial expansion of a country beyond its established borders.Richard Koebner and Helmut Schmidt, Imperialism: The Story and Significance of a Political Word, 1840–1960 (2010).
The phrase gained a wide currency after the Second World War and at the onset of the Cold War as political movements in colonies of European powers promoted national sovereignty. Some anti-imperialist groups who opposed the United States supported the power of the Soviet Union, while in some Marxist schools, such as Maoism, this was criticized as social imperialism. Islamist movements traditionally view the United States, Israel, Russia and China as imperial and neocolonial forces engaged in persecution and oppression of Muslim communities domestically and abroad.
An influential movement independent of the Western left that advocated religious anti-imperialism was pan-Islamism; which challenged the Western civilisational model and rose to prominence across various parts of the Islamic world during the 19th and 20th centuries. Its most influential ideologue was the Sunni theologian Muhammad Rashid Rida, a fierce opponent of Western ideas, who called upon Muslims to rise up in armed resistance by waging jihad against imperialism and re-establish an Islamic caliphate. Through his resolution in the Second World Congress of Comintern (1920), Lenin accused the anti-imperialism of pan-Islamists of favouring the interests of the bourgeoisie, feudal landlords and religious clerics; and incited communists to compulsorily fight pan-Islamism. Since then, Soviet authorities regularly employed the charge of pan-Islamism to target Islamic dissidents for anti-Soviet activities and fomenting anti-communist rebellions.
Theory
Some Enlightenment writers expressed anti-imperialist ideas in the 18th century, especially targeting luxury as an issue.
In the late 1870s, the term "imperialism" was introduced to the English language by opponents of the aggressively imperial policies of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (in office: 1874–1880).Richard Koebner and Helmut Schmidt, Imperialism: The Story and Significance of a Political Word, 1840–1960 (2010). It was shortly appropriated by supporters of "imperialism" such as Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914). For some, imperialism designated a policy of idealism and philanthropy; others alleged that it was characterized by political self-interest; and a growing number associated it with capitalist greed. John A. Hobson (1858–1940) and Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) added a more theoretical macroeconomic connotation to the term. Many theoreticians on the left have followed either or both in emphasizing the structural or systemic character of "imperialism." Such writers have expanded the time-period associated with the term so that it now designates neither a policy, nor a short space of decades in the late-19th century, but a global system extending over a period of centuries, often going back to Christopher Columbus. As the application of the term has expanded, its meaning has shifted along five distinct but often parallel axes: the moral, the economic, the systemic, the cultural and the temporal. Those changes reflect—among other shifts in sensibility—a growing unease with the fact of power, specifically Western power.Mark F. Proudman, "Words for Scholars: The Semantics of 'Imperialism'". Journal of the Historical Society, September 2008, Vol. 8 Issue 3, p. 395-433.D. K. Fieldhouse, "Imperialism": An Historiographical Revision", South African Journal of Economic History, March 1992, Vol. 7 Issue 1, pp. 45–72.
The relationships between capitalism, aristocracy and imperialism have been discussed and analysed by theoreticians, historians, political scientists such as John A. Hobson, Thorstein Veblen, Joseph Schumpeter and Norman Angell.G.K. Peatling, "Globalism, Hegemonism and British Power: J. A. Hobson and Alfred Zimmern Reconsidered", History, July 2004, Vol. 89 Issue 295, pp. 381–98. Those intellectuals produced much of their works about imperialism before World War I (1914–1918), yet their combined work informed the study of the impact of imperialism upon Europe and contributed to the political and ideologic reflections on the rise of the military–industrial complex in the United States from the 1950s onward.
Hobson
John A. Hobson strongly influenced the anti-imperialism of both Marxists and liberals, worldwide through his 1902 book Imperialism: A Study.Imperialism: A Study He argued that the "taproot of imperialism" is not in nationalist pride, but in capitalism. As a form of economic organization, imperialism is unnecessary and immoral, the result of the mis-distribution of wealth in a capitalist society. That created an irresistible desire to extend national markets into foreign lands, in search of profits greater than those available in the Mother Country. In the capitalist economy, rich capitalists received a disproportionately higher income than did the working class. If the owners invested their incomes in their factories, the greatly increased productive capacity would exceed the growth in demand for the products and services of said factories.
Hobson was influential in liberal circles, especially in the British Liberal Party.David Long, Towards a new liberal internationalism: the international theory of JA Hobson (1996). Historians Peter Duignan and Lewis H. Gann argue that Hobson had an enormous influence in the early-20th century that caused widespread distrust of imperialism:
Optimistically, Hobson argued that domestic social reforms could cure the international disease of imperialism by removing its economic foundation. Hobson theorized that state intervention through taxation could boost broader consumption, create wealth and encourage a peaceful multilateral world-order. Conversely, should the state not intervene, rentiers (people who earn income from property or securities) would generate socially negative wealth that fostered imperialism and protectionism.P. J. Cain, "Capitalism, Aristocracy and Empire: Some 'Classical' Theories of Imperialism Revisited", Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, March 2007, Vol. 35 Issue 1, pp. 25–47.G.K. Peatling, "Globalism, Hegemonism and British Power: J. A. Hobson and Alfred Zimmern Reconsidered", History, July 2004, Vol. 89 Issue 295, pp. 381–398.
Liberal anti-imperialism There have been many examples of liberal anti-imperialism. However, liberal anti-imperialists are distinct from socialist anti-imperialists because they do not oppose capitalism. Most liberal anti-imperialists, similar to socialist anti-imperialists, view internationalism as the primary alternative to imperialism. However, unlike socialists (specifically Marxists), instead of favoring proletarian internationalism, which promotes the spread of socialist revolution, liberals favor liberal internationalism, which promotes international cooperation and the spread of liberal democracy. Liberal anti-imperialism was core to the American Revolution, Latin American Wars of Independence, the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 in Europe, some decolonial movements in Colonial Africa and Asia, and the Revolutions of 1989.
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
China
Colombia
Egypt
El Salvador
Greece
Hungary
Iran
Ireland
Korea
Mexico
Nicaragua
Palestine
Poland
Taiwan
Tunisia
Ukraine
United States
Venezuela
Communist and socialist
In the mid-19th century, Karl Marx mentioned imperialism as part of the prehistory of the capitalist mode of production in Das Kapital (1867–1894). Vladimir Lenin defined imperialism as "the highest stage of capitalism,"Lenin: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917) the economic stage in which monopoly finance capital becomes the dominant application of capital."Imperialism", The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations (1998), by Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham. p. 244. As such, said financial and economic circumstances impelled national governments and private business corporations to worldwide competition for control of natural resources and human labour by means of colonialism."Colonialism", The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations (1998) Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, p. 79.
Leninism and Marxism–Leninism The Leninist views of imperialism and related theories, such as dependency theory, address the economic dominance and exploitation of a country: economic imperialism rather than the military and the political dominance of a people, their country and its natural resources. Hence, the primary purpose of imperialism is economic exploitation, rather than mere control of either a country or of a region. The Marxist and the Leninist denotation thus differs from the usual political science denotation of imperialism as the direct control (intervention, occupation and rule) characteristic of colonial and neocolonial empires as used in the realm of international relations."Imperialism", The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations (1998) Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, p. 79.
Lenin adopted Hobson's ideas. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), Lenin outlined the five features of capitalist development that lead to imperialism: Concentration of production and capital leading to the dominance of national and multinational monopolies and cartels. Industrial capital as the dominant form of capital has been replaced by finance capital, with the industrial capitalists increasingly reliant on capital provided by monopolistic financial institutions. "Again and again, the final word in the development of banking is monopoly." The export of the aforementioned finance capital is emphasized over the export of goods. The economic division of the world by multinational cartels. The political division of the world into colonies by the great powers, in which the great powers monopolise investment.
Generally, the relationship among Marxist-Leninists and radical, left-wing organisations who are anti-war, often involves persuading such political activists to progress from pacifism to anti-imperialism—that is, to progress from opposing war in general, to the condemnation of the capitalist economic system in particular.
In the 20th century, the Soviet Union represented itself as the foremost enemy of imperialism, thus the Kremlin gave political and financial support to Third World revolutionary organisations who fought for national independence. This was accomplished through the export of both financial capital and Soviet military apparatuses, with the Soviet Union sending military advisors to China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Angola, Egypt and Afghanistan.