World Politics Stands more Derisive than it was before due to the specific imperialist designs

Outlines

·         Shrinking natural resources

·         Imperialist designs

·         Global rules of trade

·         Role of Powerful Multinationals

·         US Strategic Interests

·         Conclusion

International politics analysts in general agree that world politics stands more derisive than it was before due to the specific imperialist designs. The globe is witnessing contemptuous dealings among the word states for their materialistic gains. It has resulted in coercive politics, hegemonic designs, strategic interests, crippling of principles and international morality. Thus the super power — United States and the emerging super power China and other leading powers including Russia, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Israel and India are pursuing their policies based on specific imperialist designs under the garb of democracy.

The states are involved in the worst form of power struggle for their survival. United Nations is spineless in curbing the hypocritical world politics. Stategic interests sway polices of the major states keeping in view their country’s interests as the ultimate driving force in framing out the policy.

These major states use differenrt subtle tools to trap the poor governments to accept aid that binds the receipient states to follow the rich states’ dictation which makes the world politics cynical and devoid of international morality. This policy practised by the developed states is to gain maxim monetary benefits as part of their broader imperialist designs.

Shrinking natural resources

The dominating power struggle among global states to hold access to shrinking natural resources in the face of global warming, astounding population growth, neo-liberal free market economy, oil politics, and strategic interests have led to the world politics more derisive today.

State policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition, or by gaining political and economic control of other areas is what is being seen today. Because imperialism always involves the use of power, often in the form of military force, it is widely considered morally objectionable, and the term accordingly has been used by states to denounce and discredit the foreign policies of their opponents.

Imperialist designs

So what makes the world politics more contemptuous may easily be attributed to the specific imperialist designs being pursued by the governments after the Second World War. What has been seen since then, most of the British and French colonies started getting independence. It resulted in power politics among the world leading states. Another reason was the threat of communism looming large over the capitalist states. The West led by the US made inroads among the developing states in the form of allliances, so as to apply brakes to the spread of communism in Asia and Europe. After the death of communism, the strategy applied now is more subtle than the preceding years.

To put it succinctly, imperialism is the process whereby powerful groups try to extend their power and increase their wealth by bringing ever more of the world under their domination.

Imperialism, is defined as the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination. Imperialism is considered the control by one state of other territories. Through political or military means (direct imperialism), the imperial power may take over the government of a particular territory or through economic processes (indirect imperialism), in which the concerned region is officially self-governing but linked to the imperial power by (often unequal) trade relations. Furthermore, the notion of cultural imperialism is indicated by existing or traditional ways of life and ways of thinking that are subordinated to the culture of the imperialists.

Thus imperialism means the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. Imperialism is one of those words that often seem to be little more than an effective way of making people stop listening to you. However, despite the frequency with which it is thrown around by left wing groups, with little or no explanation of the ideas behind it, it does have real meaning and is something that we can all recognise in the world around us - especially in this age of the US wars against third world regimes.

"As long as imperialism exists it will, by definition, exert its domination over other countries. This domination is called neocolonialism," says Che Guevara, Marxist, who played a dominating role in bringing communism in Cuba.

Global rules of trade

Today, we can see this pattern of neocolonialism in the form of domination by the major states through different channels of global trade. The world's major capitalists define the global rules of trade through such international bodies as the WTO, IMF, World Bank, and Multinational Corporations. Loans are extended on heavy interests through IMF and World Bank and even by the countries individually.

The poor countries are unable to pay back the loans, resulting in adding up of interests with the original loan intact. The recipient states then are totally dependent on the rich states for their survival. Although, these are presented as being neutral bodies, with voluntary membership, they are in fact imperialist tools. They oversee the transfer of vast quantities of resources and wealth every year from the poorer parts of the world into the bank accounts of the super rich. After centuries of exploitation, Africa apparently owes the West more than $227 billion.

Role of Powerful Multinationals

A multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational corporation (TNC), also called multinational enterprise (MNE), is a an enterprise that manages or delivers in more than one country. It can also be referred as an international corporation. The ILO has defined[ an MNC as a corporation which has its management headquarters in one country known as the home country and operates in several other countries known as host countries.

The multinationals have swept over the world economy and dictate terms to the governments as the world economy is largely depended on the multinationals for its survival. The giant companies, invest their products among the world states on terms and conditions favouring them with maximum benefit. Nowadays many corporations have offices, branches or manufacturing plants in different countries than where their original and main headquarter is located. This often results in very powerful corporations that have budgets that exceed often national budgets of the developing states. Multinational corporations can have a powerful influence in local economies as well as the government policies and play an important role in moulding the economy. The presence of such powerful players in the world economy is reason for much controversy.

It may seem strange that a corporation can decide to do business in a different country, where it doesn't know the laws, local customs or business practices. Why is it not more efficient to combine assets of value overseas with local factors of production at lower costs by renting or selling them to local investors? One reason is that the use of the market for coordinating the behaviour of agents located in different countries is less efficient than coordinating them by a multinational enterprise as an institution. The additional costs caused by the entrance in foreign markets are of less interest for the local enterprise.

According to Hymer, Kindleberger and Caves, the existence of MNEs is reasoned by structural market imperfections for final products. In Hymer's example, there are considered two firms as monopolists in their own market and isolated from competition by transportation costs and other tariff and non-tariff barriers.

US Strategic Interests

American political analyst, William J Olson, in his book, “US Strategic Interests in the Gulf Region” says: The US need to control oil in West Asia has also affected the countries in West Asia. The burning example is Iraq. Iraq, which has second largest oil reserves in world after Saudi Arabia, has suffered a brutal US invasion on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). About 1.2 million people in Iraq have died in seven years of war and sanctions (1990-97), out of which, half million were children. In 2006, Lebanon was attacked by Israel, and now Iran is under threat. Is this a war against terrorism? Is this a face of supplied democracy? Is this freedom supposed to come from political instability and authoritarianism?

Now the United States is fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan as larger part of its global agenda. In other words, it is a war being fought by a super power to safeguard its strategic interests. It is worth noting that this volume emanating from the US Army War College gives priority to the need to relate American security policy to the realities of Middle East politics rather than to the Soviet or Chinese military threat to the region. This broad general perspective opens the way to familiar problems of force structure, basing, arms sales and diplomacy.

Conclusion

One of the important features of 21st century politics is to establish regional dominance through alliances. US imperialism through its old allies, Israel and UK has unleashed the war on third world countries. Now, China, Pakistan and India are cooperating with the US hegemony to become regional powers. India vote against Iran, the Indo-US nuclear deal, strategic defence deals with Israel and forgetting its commitment toward the cause of Palestine and Kashmir are the manifestation of the deviation of India’s foreign policy. Even China has developed excellent economic ties with the United States for financial benefits despite the unsolved issue of Taiwan. The relationship has helped China become the emerging super power.

American author Samuel P. Huntington says in his book, “America's changing strategic interests” that the US is the undisputed centre of political power. In this era, the United States is the undisputed centre of political power in the world and so it is through the US that the capitalists flex their muscles.

The contemporary world in the name of democracy, justice and liberty, continues to see the United States create havoc in the form of injustice, subjugation of freedom and massacres –– from Lebanon and Palestine to Iraq and Afghanistan. It is still seeking to recreate this in other parts, notably in Iran.

Mervyn Frost, author of Global Ethics Anarchy, Freedom and International Relations, challenges the commonplace that contemporary international interactions are best understood as struggles for power. Eschewing jargon and theoretical abstraction, Frost argues that global politics and global civil society must be understood in ethical terms. “International actors are always faced with the ethical question: So, what ought we to do in circumstances like these?” Illustrating the centrality of ethics to our understanding of global politics and global civil society with detailed case studies, Frost shows how international actors constitute one another in global social practices that are underpinned by specific ethical commitments. “Global Ethics forces readers to confront their own necessary ethical engagement as citizens and rights holders in global society. Failure to understand international relations in ethical terms will lead to misguided action.”

So, the need of the times is to forge a broad unity amongst the resisting forces and build a broad based support movement to express solidarity with the resistance. In the war against imperialism, the role of countries like China, India and Pakistan have become important as the ruling elites in these countries are getting co-opted under the pressure of the US and projecting their class interest as the interest of the country. The people of these countries must not only express their solidarity with the resistance in Palestine, Kashmir and Iraq but also defeat the designs of their elite to team up with the US. This is the challenge facing the developing world -- the challenge to mould world politics to be based on tranquillity and international morality rather than being hypocritical with specific imperialist designs.