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The Strange World of Empire by Louis Proyect 22 May 2002 18:51 UTC |
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The strange world of Empire Whilst it would not now be unduly cynical to suggest that “globalisation books” have become a distinct genre, initially an academic one centred on a debate between economists, but after Seattle a political one with wider appeal, Empire does not fit comfortably into this niche. It has a far less economic emphasis than any other text on the question of globalisation from a more strictly Marxist perspective, where economic issues have been at the very centre of the debate as to whether or not world capitalism is going through an entirely new phase. Nor does it offer a wide-ranging panoramic view of international relations in the current phase from a Marxist position in the manner of Peter Gowan. Moreover, it lacks the wealth of empirical detail to be found in many of the works by non-Marxist radical campaigners on globalisation issues, such as Naomi Klein, George Monbiot and Susan George, who have become known to wider layers of anti-capitalist activists. Perhaps Empire’s failure to take as its starting point the economic trends of recent decades is not surprising given that in Marx Beyond Marx Negri had the arrogance to claim Marx’s Capital “served to reduce critique to economic theory, to annihilate subjectivity in objectivity, to subject the subversive capacity of the proletariat to the reorganising and repressive intelligence of capitalist power” (p.19). Arguably, an approach rooted in the decline of the nation state and the very notion of unlimited national sovereignty – serious issues which in however distorted a form inform real political debates, including British Conservative discussion of the European Union – might be a perfectly reasonable way of tackling the question of real or apparent globalisation. But an analysis of sovereignty that begins with Duns Scotus, Machiavelli, Hobbes and Spinoza is not at first sight the most obvious point of entry into a serious discussion of the real changes in the international system since 1945. My scepticism increased when I read this: “In other words, the contemporary empirical situation resembles the theoretical description of imperial power as the supreme form of government that Polybius constructed for Rome and the European tradition handed down us” (p.314). Negri’s pompous classical references are a constant refrain – the best example is his assertion that “the name that we want to use to refer to the multitude in its political autonomy and its productive activity is the Latin term posse – power as a verb, as activity” (p.407). He is aware of the slightly different use of the term by rappers lacking a classical education of the kind he received in his liceo classico in 1940s Italy and haughtily remarks that “this American fantasy of vigilantes and outlaws, however, does not interest us very much” (p.408). Such is the quite comically fractured consciousness of a rather precious traditional intellectual who has been idealising the lumpenproletariat since he gave up on the traditional factory worker a quarter of a century ago. Some of us might have more patience with Professor Negri if he had the same grasp of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the General Agreement on Trade and Services and various other recent proposals emanating from the World Trade Organisation as he has, or appears to have, of Machiavelli, Descartes and Spinoza. Although the book claims to start from “the juridical perspective” (p.122), Negri’s interest in legal theory is always a very abstract one, and is of absolutely no assistance to those interested in practical questions such as patent law as it affects AIDS drugs for South Africa or Monsanto’s infamous Terminator seeds or the implications of international agreements for bananas, Roquefort cheese or cattle fed with hormones, to name but a few of the legal issues that have given rise to campaigns across the world, and even to some measure of dispute between the EU and the USA. full: http://mysite.freeserve.com/whatnext Louis Proyect Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
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