Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 20:20:02 -0800 (PST)
From: commie zero zero <commie00-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: empire & globalization, was... Re: AUT: Re: autonomist crisis theory


> I agree with everything you've said, I guess the
> exact
> example I was thinking of is globalization.
> Capitalism
> has been a world-system for quite some time but its
> characterized by periods of capitalists within
> particular nation-states focusing on home markets,
> and
> periods of imperialism where capitalists look to
> expand their global reach. Current globalization is
> not the first time capitalists have looked beyond
> domestic markets for production and buyers of their
> commodities. 

i'm sure this has been said a million times, but i
want to hear some folks thoughts on it...

been thinking a lot lately about how "globalization"
is, of course, not about the globalization of
capitalism, but the internationalization of the ruling
class. 

following on empire, i went back and read documents
from bretton woods, read the gatt document, etc. etc.
and what i think is going on is that the ruling class
(esp in the west) has been a completely non-national
entity since at least the 50s, if not really before. 

the league of nations (then the un) seems to me to
have been the base attempt to create an international
state (thus an international voice and will of an
international ruling class), which was solidified by
gatt, and thus the imf, wb, and now the wto. 

that is: with the fall of the warsaw pact, and the
integration of large chunks of the formally
state-capitalist ruling class into the western ruling
class, we do have an activity called globalization...
but it's the globalization of the ruling class. 

so, basically: imperialism has ended as such. and,
like in empire, perhaps all seemingly imperialist
struggles are now imperial struggles. with no center,
no national ruling class on top. 

thoughts?

====commie00
---------------------------------
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