Undoing Empire’s Hold on Democracy: An Anti-Imperialist Path out of the Crisis
Inés Valdez
The rise of populism in western democracies has much to do with the crumbling of the imperial bargain – it is a covert demand to restore it. Wealthy democracies were enabled by a capital-labour alliance in favour of growing prosperity, itself achieved through the imperialist subjugation of colonized peoples. The post-colonial order has not eliminated western democracies’ addiction to imperialism – it has only spawned new forms of subjugation, extraction and exploitation. The contemporary rise of racist populism is thus a grievance against the crumbling of the post-colonial order and the distributive pact western publics obtained by way of globalizing capitalism. If a truly democratic world is to emerge from the demise of neoliberalism, western societies need to purge themselves from their deep-seated imperialist habits and challenge domestic and global capitalism.
26 July 2024. Rubric 2
View all articles
