Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending the rule over peoples and other countries.
Expansionism and centralisation have been pursued throughout recorded history by states, with the earliest examples dating back to the mid-third millennium BC. However the concept of imperialism arose in the modern age, associated chiefly with the European colonial powers of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and New Imperialism.
Theoretical basis
Engels
Friedrich Engels alluded to imperialism in The principles of communism:
In this way, all semi-barbarian countries, which had hitherto been more or less strangers to historical development, and whose industry had been based on manufacture, were violently forced out of their isolation. They bought the cheaper commodities of the English and allowed their own manufacturing workers to be ruined. Countries which had known no progress for thousands of years – for example, India – were thoroughly revolutionized, and even China is now on the way to a revolution.
We have come to the point where a new machine invented in England deprives millions of Chinese workers of their livelihood within a year’s time.
In this way, big industry has brought all the people of the Earth into contact with each other, has merged all local markets into one world market, has spread civilization and progress everywhere and has thus ensured that whatever happens in civilized countries will have repercussions in all other countries.
— Engels, Principles of communism [note 1]
At the time of his writing, imperialism was not yet a word in common use (not until the 1870s) however, policies of imperialism were already happening around the world -- especially at hands of the British Empire in Africa.
Lenin
Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin suggested in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (ProleWiki Library) (1916) that "imperialism was the highest form of capitalism, claiming that imperialism developed after colonialism, and was distinguished from colonialism by monopoly capitalism".
Today, most Marxist-Leninists still use his definition as well as the above book to form their understanding of imperialism.
To Lenin, imperialism is a very specific stage of development in capitalism, meaning that it will always happen in any sufficiently developed capitalist mode of production. As markets become saturated nationally (due to an influx of producers), capital must be exported and the main function of banks is to help with that (see finance capitalism). This is not a moralist criticism on Lenin's part; rather, it shows the need to move away from capitalism and into communism. Even if imperialism were to somehow stop entirely, it would come back eventually.
Countries must eventually turn to imperialism for two reasons:
- Capitalism requires constant consumption, which translates into growth (and GDP growth). Without GDP growth, capitalism stagnates and a recession occurs. However, it is impossible to expect infinite growth with finite resources and as markets become saturated, the bourgeoisie must look towards new opportunities.
- The bourgeoisie is also in constant competition between individuals, and as such there is a very rational reason for a bourgeois to emerge victorious over the competition. Accessing lucrative markets and cheaper labour will give them an edge over the competition.
However, imperialised countries will not be allowed to develop past the most primitive stage of capitalism which prevents them from becoming imperialist themselves. In such countries, we see a new social class emerging, the comprador class, who represents the national bourgeoisie but who are exploited by the imperialist power. Their class interest is to achieve national sovereignty so that they can become exploiters without being exploited.
Contemporary times
Imperial core
Today, imperialism is still very much alive as Lenin described. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for example were institutions created for the benefit of the imperial core (the richest and oldest capitalist economies, grossly encompassing North America and Western Europe) so as to perpetually keep former colonised countries in debt that they can not repay. The IMF is known to demand specific free market policies put into place so as to facilitate movement of capital from the imperial core towards these ex-colonies, also known as the Global South. On top of having many strings attached, the IMF is allowed to seize projects when loans cannot be paid back, and they often can't due to very harsh payment plans (usually very high interest rates over a 7-year period).
This "soft" imperialism is not the only form of imperialism happening, and we can look at the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003 for a "harder" form of imperialism. In this case, the entire country of Iraq as well as the surrounding region was destabilized, which allowed U.S. oil companies to eliminate competition and seize these wells for themselves.
Soviet imperialism
Leftists usually "denounce" Soviet imperialism, based on the conflicts which happened between the Soviet Union and China. USSR did not practice imperialism in the Leninist sense — it did not export capital and was not under control of a financial oligarchy.
Chinese imperialism
Some people also speak of Chinese imperialism, mainly in Africa. These people again use the liberal definition of imperialism and can be ignored in much the same way.
With its Belt and Road Initiative, China does not practice the same harsh policies as the IMF and that is why they are being favoured by more and more countries, leading to a disinformation campaign by the imperial core to help drive popular support from the B&R and back towards the IMF. Famously, Chinese loans pay for infrastructure (needed for development), are often forgiven [1], and there are no policies required to getting such a loan.