帝国主义

帝國主義是資本主義的最高階段，壟斷與企業操控政府普遍存在於帝國主義的經濟體制中。

在弗拉基米爾·列寧對帝國主義的理論中，認為帝國主義由五個基本特徵定義： 存在在經濟生活中有決定性作用的壟斷; 銀行資本與工業資本合併為金融寡頭控制的金融資本; 資本的輸出而不是簡單的商品輸出; 國際壟斷組織形成以及整個世界被強大的資本主義國家瓜分。這種對馬克思對資本主義發展的分析的擴展是列寧對政治經濟學最重要的理論貢獻之一。

帝國主義在全球經濟中的發展，也增強了與周邊國家之間的聯繫，主要表現為欠發達國家對帝國主義國家的依附和從屬。

理論基礎

馬克思根據他的運動規律理論得出結論，隨着資本主義的發展，它們將不可避免地陷入危機，從而導致內部無產階級起義，建立無產階級專政（最終是社會主義）。然而，根據列寧的觀察，帝國主義階段使資本主義能夠通過掠奪殖民地來緩解這場危機，殖民地是資本輸出的新渠道和新的勞動力來源。

這種資本主義帝國的瘋狂擴張迫使各個帝國主義列強開始爭奪勢力範圍、資源和勞動力市場，這導致了破壞性的帝國主義列強內部衝突，如第一次世界大戰。因此，帝國主義將資本主義的內在矛盾擴大到了更極端的程度，故此斯大林認為列寧主義是「帝國主義時代的馬克思主義」。

帝國主義作為資本主義的一個發展階段，意味着它將永遠以任何足夠發達的資本主義生產方式發展。隨着市場在一些國家內部飽和，資本必須輸出到其他地方，銀行的主要功能是幫助實現這一點（參見金融資本主義）。

各國必定會走向帝國主義，原因如下：

1. 資本主義需要不斷的消費，轉化為持續的增長（GDP的增長）。沒有GDP增長，資本主義就會停滯不前，經濟衰退就會發生。但是，由於不可能在有限的可用資源下實現無限增長，隨着市場趨於飽和，資產階級必須尋求新的市場。
2. 資產階級也處於不斷的內部競爭之中，因此，資本家欲在競爭中取得勝利就需要擴展新的市場和尋求更便宜的勞動力將使他們在競爭中佔據優勢。

但是，被帝國主義剝削的國家是無法發展到超過資本主義最原始的階段的，更無法發展到帝國主義階段。在這些國家，資產階級有兩個不同分支的出現。首先，「買辦」階級，即民族資產階級中與外國帝國主義投資者結盟並依賴外國帝國主義的一部分。另一部分是「民族」資產階級，他們的階級利益暫時與被剝削的本國工人階級結盟，以實現民族解放（這樣他們就可以成為剝削者而不受剝削，到那時他們與本國無產階級的結盟就會破裂）。

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

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.

Given that imperialism is, (according to Lenin) the highest stage of capitalism, one tendency of imperialism is to export the class conflict of a nation to foreign lands. Thus, the British nation, in order to solve its problem of unemployment and food scarcity along a capitalist basis (without socialism; redistribution of wealth and power to the commoners through social ownership) it had to find new lands to settle the unemployed.

"In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, our colonial statesmen must acquire new lands for settling the surplus population of this country, to provide new markets. ... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question."

— Cecil Rhodes, British imperialist, as quoted in Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

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"

During the Cold War, a rivalry between the world's two global powers at the time (the USA and the Soviet Union), the CIA's Congress for Cultural Freedom cultivated a milieu of anti-Soviet leftists to advance the geopolitical line of the US. One accusation that was leveled against the Soviet union was that it was yet another imperialist state, 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"

In modern times, some accuse China of being imperialist, 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 (namely, forcing austerity upon loan recipients) and that is why they are being favored 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 , and there are no policies required to getting such a loan.

Imperialist military

Imperialism is enforced by military power -- especially, since the early 20th century, by U.S. military power. One indication of this is the large number of military bases that the U.S. maintains in foriegn countries and the large number of U.S. troops stationed around the world.

U.S. military personnel in Europe

At the end of 2021, the United States had 74,000 military personnel stationed in Europe in long-term positions (according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service). Not all are combat-ready troops. The numbers of these U.S. personnel in some particular countries is as follows:

• Germany, 36,000
• Italy, 12,000
• Britain, 9,000
• Spain, 3,000
• Turkey, 1,600

Besides these personnel, the U.S. rotates 4,500 troops through Poland.