ABSTRACT
Although it is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, we define empire in simple terms as the expansion beyond national boundaries of economic activities, especially investment, sales, extraction of raw materials, and the use of labor to produce commodities and services – as well as the social, political, and economic effects of this expansion. Empire has achieved many advantages for economically dominant nations. Ventures to expand empire have involved both capitalist countries and socialist superpowers (including the ‘social imperialism’ of the former Soviet Union). For centuries, empire included military conquest and the maintenance of colonies under direct political control. The decline of colonialism in the twentieth century, however, led to the emergence of political and economic ‘neocolonialism,’ by which poor countries provided similar advantages to richer countries as they had provided under the earlier, more formal versions of colonialism.
