IMPERIALISM AT THE BRINK: dECOLONIZATION, dECARBONIZATION, AND THE CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM

 Imperialism at the Brink responds to two pressing social and political problems in the midst of the climate crisis. On the one hand, intensifying ecological impacts and increasingly catastrophic projections demand that we initiate a process of rapid decarbonization. On the other, global inequalities and uneven international development render any homogenous or ‘one fits all’ climate policy potentially hazardous. As powerful states grapple for control of the climate mitigation process and pursuit national security in response to migration, developing states are left to contend with increasing ecological vulnerability wrought by colonialism and imperialism. In popular political discourse, these competing interests have justified the lack of climate accord compliance among the some of the world’s largest emitters. In theoretical discussions, perceived chasms between degrowth and radical social transformation and between workers’ immediate interests and the longterm requirements of sustainable production demonstrate that tensions arise from not only from massive inequalities but also from the basic conceptions of what capitalism is and what, precisely, drives it toward imperial expansion and environmental devastation.

Historically, the leftist critique of capitalism has been primarily identified with the critique of exploitation, the extraction of surplus-value from workers’ generating greater value than they are paid in the supposedly ‘free’ wage relation. And, while exploitation and the emiseration it produces is of crucial ethical and strategical importance, the end of relations of exploitation is not a panacea for all of capitalism’s ills. Sustainable production does not automatically follow from workers’ self-determination (as many market socialists seem to presuppose) and competitive production still generates enormous waste in its orientation toward growth. There must be something more to the critique of capitalism that captures the fundamental logic of capitalist production which both captures its diverse contradictions and which can clearly point the way forward.

In the book, the author argues in favor of refocusing the critique of capitalism toward the ‘telos of production critique. This critique emphasizes the goal or aim of production, rather than its distinct (and potentially heterogenous) labor relations. In capitalist society, production is subordinate to a single imperative: infinite accumulation through the endless production and exchange of commodities (i.e., production for exchange-value) to the detriment of human needs (use-value). Although the idea that profit-seeking and peoples’ needs may be counter-indicated is not new (indeed, it has been a silent fulcrum for Marxist theory for some time), its analytical centrality draws out new insights, addresses old problems, and resolves theoretical tensions which have muddled our attempts to formulate a coherent political alternative to capitalism.

In practical terms: If we want to achieve decarbonization without exacerbating underdevelopment and inequality, then we need to consider a differential approach to climate policy akin to the ‘contraction and convergence model’. Market-driven economies, the book argues, cannot offer us either the organizational capacity nor flexibility necessary to implement such a program. The critique of the telos of production in capitalism society (namely, exchange-value) demonstrates that if we need to re-orient production as a whole away from exchange and toward the sustainable satisfaction of human needs, we need a comprehensive rather than additive critique of capitalist production. To combat both climate change and the continuing project of imperial domination, we must reevaluate the idea of a planned economy. In particular, we need a plan that can achieve decarbonization goals without shoring up imperial power; we need ecological planning against imperialism.

Sneak Peeks:

Critical Theory Workshop Webinar on YouTube | Download Presentation Slides

Radical Philosophy Hour on YouTube | Download Presentation Slides

Coming January 2025: Authors Meet Critics Panel w/ Larry Alan Busk (“The Contradiction Between Use-Value and Exchange-Value”)

Coming Summer 2025: Paris Critical Theory Workshop | Download Presentation Slides