Discussion Paper No.2
The 'New' Imperialism and Possibilities for Coexistence
James Putzel (DRC, DESTIN)
January 2004
What are the possibilities for peaceful coexistence of divergent capitalisms, of
the West with the Islamic world, of rich and poor regions in the global system?
The central proposition of this paper is that only by reinforcing
multilateralism can the international community hope to maximise the chances for
peace. The paper examines the ‘new’ US ‘imperialism’ as articulated by
the Bush administration over the past three years, particularly through an
analysis of the National Security Strategy. It considers the Moscow Treaty on
Strategic Offensive Reductions as a decisive victory for the US military. It
then briefly considers the economic basis of the US imperial project to suggest
that its supremacy may prove ephemeral. In the third section of the paper, the
author examines the political and economic motivations for the US-Anglo invasion
and occupation of Iraq. Finally, in the last section, a return is made to an
evaluation of the prospects for challenging the imperial project and the basis
on which this might be pursued.
Other Crisis States papers by James Putzel:
Discussion Paper No.7 (November 2004)
The Political Impact of Globalisation and Liberalisation: Evidence Emerging from Crisis States Research
(James Putzel)
Discussion Paper No.1 (January 2004)
The Politics of 'Participation': Civil Society, the State and Development Assistance
(James Putzel)
Working Paper No.18 (October 2002)
Politics, the State and the Impulse for Social Protection: the implications of Karl Polanyi's ideas for understanding development and crisis
(James Putzel)
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