Super-imperialism is a
Marxist term with two possible meanings. It refers either to the
hegemony
Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...
of an
imperialist
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
great power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...
over its weaker rivals which then are called sub-imperialisms, or to a comprehensive supra-structure above a set of theoretically equal-righted imperialist states. The latter meaning is the older one and had become rare by the middle of the 20th century.
Etymology
The expression super-imperialism first appeared in November 1914 as an inaccurate translation of the newly coined German term ''
Ultra-Imperialismus''. William E. Bohn, the translator of
Karl Kautsky
Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. Kautsky was one of the most authoritative promulgators of orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels i ...
’s article "Der Imperialismus" ("The Imperialism"), seemed to believe that the terms ''Kartell'' and ''Ultra-Imperialismus'' were not reasonable for the audience of the ''
International Socialist Review'', an American Marxist journal. Bohn faced a double problem as
cartel
A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...
s were much less familiar in the United States than the concern-like, tauter organized
trust
Trust often refers to:
* Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality
It may also refer to:
Business and law
* Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another
* Trust (bus ...
entities and the word ''ultra'', which in English means "exaggerated" or "extreme". Thus, he paraphrased Kautsky's ideas in terms more familiar to American readers, somewhat distorting Kautsky's statement.
Recent meanings
Together with the revival of the imperialism debates in the 1970s, the term super-imperialism recovered, but was modified in its content. It served now to describe the domination by the super-power United States within a system of
imperialism in which the other imperialist powers were set back in their abilities and thus were second-class.
[ Bob Rowthorn, Imperialism in the Seventies: Unity or Rivalry?, in: New Left Review, 59 (1971), 31; Michael Hudson: Super imperialism : the economic strategy of American empire, New York, 1972.] Since the same time, the German term ''Ultraimperialismus'' was translated into English literally with
ultra-imperialism
Ultra-imperialism, or occasionally hyperimperialism and formerly super-imperialism, is a potential, comparatively peaceful phase of capitalism, meaning after or beyond imperialism. It was described mainly by Karl Kautsky. Post-imperialism is someti ...
and was now used to describe a rather equal-righted inter-imperialist cooperation.
References
Literature
*
Michael Hudson: ''Super Imperialism. The Economic Strategy of American Empire'' (Third Edition), Islet, 2021.
* Karl Kautsky: ''Imperialism and the War'', in: ''International socialist review'', 15 (1914).
* Karl Kautsky: ''Der Imperialismus'', in: ''Die Neue Zeit''. 32 (1914), vol. 2, p. 908–922.
*
Holm A. Leonhardt: ''Bibliographie zur Ultraimperialismus-Theorie''
ibliography on Ultraimperialism Theory in: Homepage of the Institute of History of Hildesheim University, http://www.uni-hildesheim.de/media/geschichte/Geschichte Ultraimperialismustheorie.pdf (available since 1-20-2008).
*
Holm A. Leonhardt: ''Zur Geschichte der Ultraimperialismus-Theorie 1902–1930. Die Ideengeschichte einer frühen Theorie der politischen Globalisierung''
n the History of Ultra-Imperialism Theory in: Homepage of the Institute of History, Hildesheim Universität (Germany) http://www.uni-hildesheim.de/de/30219.htm (available since 1-20-2008).
*
Bob Rowthorn: ''Imperialism in the Seventies: Unity or Rivalry? '', in: ''New Left Review'', 59 (1971).
* Martin Thomas: ''Introduction to Kautsky's "Ultra-imperialism"''. Workers Liberty.
Dan Jakopovich, ''In the Belly of the Beast: Challenging US Imperialism and the Politics of the Offensive'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Super-Imperialism
International relations theory
Hegemony
Imperialism studies
Marxist terminology