Essay on World Civilization since 1500

Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject

Abstract

By definition, neo-imperialism is whereby a certain nation gains control over another nation. This could be either through by gaining ownership of the territorial boundaries or when that particular nation extends its political, economic and cultural practices over to this other nation. Policies are also extended to this nation hence this becomes synonymous to where a nation is governed by another.

Neo-imperialism was and still continues to prevail in our current world though in a less recognized manner. After the 17^th century, this phenomenon was evidenced in some nations that were under the imperial states back them from Europe and later the United States took over as the leading imperial state after world war I.

Neo-imperialism was attributed by different factors like the need to trade and the desire to gain control over the available raw materials and consequently the means of production that turned these raw materials into useful products.

Dependency and later neo-dependency theorists like professor Frank have clearly demonstrated how neo-imperialism has taken a lead in some less developed nations as a result of events from the imperial states of Europe and North America. A nation can not detach itself from neo-imperialism as long as it wants to uphold capitalism as was the case with Argentina. Constructing a rail road was a capitalist ideology but then the country wanted to become in dependent by using its local expertise and funds to execute this project. Unfortunately, this was not in handy because there is no way a country can  move away from neo-imperialism and on the other hand it is observant of capitalism.

Despite the fact that neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism have exploited the under developed nations, we can not assume that it has escalated development in these less developed nations. The only thing that is remaining is for these imperialist to fully let go of the under developed nations.

The Rise and Development of Neo-Imperialism and Neo-Colonialism

Neo-imperialism entails revolution of science that came along with the invention of cures for so many killer diseases in less developed nations as a result of action by the imperial states. Though the underdeveloped worlds were trying to become imperial states through mobilization and utilization of their own capital resources to develop their world, they always ended up relying on the imperial states all together. The European power which developed neo-imperialism was Britain. The development was imposed in Argentina in a situation Argentina wanted to construct a rail road but since they did not have adequate resources to do this, Britain came in to support the project. Consequently, this led to Britain chipping in and completed the project with the aim of benefiting its imperial state. Neo-imperialism is clearly portrayed where the British since were the innovators of the railway, had the skills and proficiency to construct the railway. Again, they had substantial financial power to fund the project. This was to help Argentina gain imperialism in directly as Britain would highly benefit from this rail road to transact its trade plans.

With the shift to industrial phase, there was a great need of change that would encompass the social as well as the economic aspects. This new mode of neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism arose from the fact that there was a need of classes as described by the theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Again, there was the need to control resources and due to this there emerged the neo-imperialist nations that wanted to gain control of other nations they regarded less powerful.

The result was that the less developed relied on the imperial states for political, economic and social support. There was a need for division of labor because all people would not do the same thing and there had to be a differentiation. This division attributed to neo-imperialism as well because the more privileged states got the opportunity to exploit the less privileged ones. This happened when capitalists from these imperialists nations took over the means of production of the lesser nations and consequently created a division where the peasants were to provide labor. There was also a need for trade but solely to benefit the imperialists hence had to create developments in the less developed nations so that successful trade would prevail. This was also manifested by the fact that these imperialists needed a market to trade off its surplus thus the need to contribute in building railway roads in the less developed nations.

Classical  imperialism was within a nation but neo-imperialism was between states and resulted in exploitation of the underdeveloped countries. According to Leninism, this occurred where investment or development took place in the less developed states with an aim of benefiting the already industrialized counties.   Consequently, the underdeveloped nations are faced with a bout of problems exported from the the industrialized nations like unemployment. Neo-imperialism outweighs classical imperialism in that it promoted sustainability of a state. This was evidenced by the fact that the people did not get the direct impact of this new mode. This was unlike the prior where there was immense labor exploitation and the people were given minimal wages for hefty work load. Neo-imperialism was beneficial in the sense that it promoted trade among states and nations.  Neo-imperialism also enabled a country to identify itself in terms of owned resources from which it partly benefited.

Spain was brought under neo imperialist control by the United States when they engaged in a war that arose from the blowing up of the U.S.S Maine in Havana harbor. Consequently, the United States took charge of Spain’s colonies and what followed was  that Spain was left without a colony. The main goal of this war with the Spanish was for the United States to gain dominance over other states hence gain recognition as a super state. This augured so well when the U.S overthrew the Spanish. There were also the fascists who were at war with the Spanish. Since the Spanish did not have enough ammunition to defeat the fascists, they were helped by the U.S.S.R who eventually asked for compensation. The U.S.S.R compensated themselves by carting off  a large portion of Spain’s gold reserves.

In the case for Brazil, the nation was brought under neo-imperialism after world war I. This  is because, after this world war I the United States became the leading imperialist and consequently gained lead as the top economic power. By so doing, it gained control of the world’s resources inclusive of Brazilian iron. Thus Neo imperialism in Brazil was established when the United States gained access of Brazilian iron so as to benefit its imperial state. The fact that the iron was from Brazil, the country partly benefited from this mineral but a large proportion of the benefits went to the United States.

The Comprador bourgeoisie were the few minority who owned the means of production and were mostly found in the large cities. These were the likes of Ngo Dinh Diem and Ho Chi Minh.  The comprador bourgeoisie had a big role as far as neo-imperialism was concerned. This was due to the fact that they were in charge of the large minority who were the peasants and controlled a large part of the country’s resources. They were the master minds as far as maximization of profit occurred through labor exploitation. By so doing they saw to it that the laborers though benefited by gaining little wages from their labor but they were the ones who highly benefited by taking all the profits.

From what we have seen, neocolonialism though exploited the under developed nations, it somehow led to their development as well. Neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism continues to reign up to today where we see the super power states intervening in the affairs of the under developed nations. The effects of neo-colonialism still exist until today as evidenced by global trade and borrowing of funds to carry out various projects. Thus, it is very clear that neo-colonialism is inevitable since the underdeveloped nations are following the steps of the imperial states in moving towards capitalism.