Empire and Imperialism

A Critical Reading of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri

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by Atilio A. Boron

Zed Books

Due/Published June 2005, 160 pages, paper

ISBN 1842775774

In 2001, the Harvard scholar Michael Hardt and the independent Italian left wing intellectual Toni Negri published a modern critique of imperialism. The book was widely criticized by left wing intellectuals who felt that the book posed unfortunate implications for political resistance to imperialism, and that it ignored both the experience and intellectual analysis of thinkers from the South. Atilio Boron is one of those. He argues that Hardt and Negri's concept of "imperialism without an address," though well intentioned, ignores most of the fundamental parameters of imperialism. The nation state, far from weakening, remains a crucial agent of capitalism, deploying a large arsenal of economic weaponry to protect and extend its position and actively promoting globalization in its own interests.

Contents

Preface
On Perspectives. Horizons of Visibility and Blind Spots
The Constitution of the Empire
Markets, Transnational Corporations and National Economies
Alternative Visons of the Empire
The Nation-State and the Issue of Sovereignty
The Unsolved Mystery of the Multitude
Notes for a Sociology of Revolutionary Thought in Times of Defeat
The Persistence of Imperialism