Hard power is used to maintain imperialism. The reason the export of capital is important is that this is what allows imperialist countries to siphon all of the wealth from the global south, vs. just selling them things. Wiki’s definition is vague enough to apply to Burkina Faso kicking France out, ie it turns anti-imperialism into imperialism.
It’s absolutely extending your power over a foreign nation. Resistance to domination is the enforcement of your own will over that of others. Wiki’s definition is intentionally vague to the point of being worthless, while the historical analysis of imperialism as originated with theorists like Hobson and extended by Lenin, Nkrumah, and Cheng Enfu describes an actual system, its material causes and mechanisms, and describes why it exists and how to end it. The wiki definition is like defining capitalism as “trade” and saying Marx was being ridiculous by analyzing it further.
Here’s a good summary of imperialism. Treating imperialism like a vibe, and not like a material process, means we are incapable of learning how to stop it.
Extension is a relative term. Burkina Faso is extending its own influence to that of France by kicking them out. Every action has a reaction, in regaining their sovereignty they have reduced France’s. This is a good thing, but if we are being technical, it counts as imperialism according to Wikipedia. This is obviously an absurd statement, but that’s the point, Wikipedia’s definition isn’t actually a technical one, and instead is trying to describe a gut feeling more than a material process with concrete characteristics and motions.
Hard power is used to maintain imperialism. The reason the export of capital is important is that this is what allows imperialist countries to siphon all of the wealth from the global south, vs. just selling them things. Wiki’s definition is vague enough to apply to Burkina Faso kicking France out, ie it turns anti-imperialism into imperialism.
Kicking someone out is not “extending power over foreign nations.” That is “resisting foreign nations trying to extend power over you.”
You’re being ridiculous and clearly not taking the definition as intended. Your definition is the problem here
It’s absolutely extending your power over a foreign nation. Resistance to domination is the enforcement of your own will over that of others. Wiki’s definition is intentionally vague to the point of being worthless, while the historical analysis of imperialism as originated with theorists like Hobson and extended by Lenin, Nkrumah, and Cheng Enfu describes an actual system, its material causes and mechanisms, and describes why it exists and how to end it. The wiki definition is like defining capitalism as “trade” and saying Marx was being ridiculous by analyzing it further.
Here’s a good summary of imperialism. Treating imperialism like a vibe, and not like a material process, means we are incapable of learning how to stop it.
“Extending” is the key word here. You aren’t extending any power if it’s your own nation, it would be the other party who did that.
Anyway, thanks for the link, I’ll check it out!
Extension is a relative term. Burkina Faso is extending its own influence to that of France by kicking them out. Every action has a reaction, in regaining their sovereignty they have reduced France’s. This is a good thing, but if we are being technical, it counts as imperialism according to Wikipedia. This is obviously an absurd statement, but that’s the point, Wikipedia’s definition isn’t actually a technical one, and instead is trying to describe a gut feeling more than a material process with concrete characteristics and motions.
And no problem!