Super-imperialism is a
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
term with two possible meanings. It can refer:
* to the
hegemony
Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global.
In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...
of an
imperialist
Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism fo ...
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 ...
over its weaker rivals, which in this context become sub-imperialisms
* 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’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 collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...
s were much less familiar in the United States than the concern-like, tauter organized
trust 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
Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
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 (occasionally hyperimperialism and formerly super-imperialism) is a potential, comparatively peaceful phase of capitalism, meaning after or beyond Theory of imperialism, imperialism. It was described mainly by Karl Kautsky. Post ...
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