The Conflict in Ukraine and Contemporary Imperialism

ABSTRACT

In this introduction, we provide an overall framing of the articles that follow by placing the Ukraine conflict which today embroils the West in confrontation with Russia, within an historical account of the geopolitical economy of contemporary capitalism and the dynamics of imperialism in the twenty-first century, taking particular account of the decline of US and Western power and the rise of other centres of economic and military power, which are able to resist and contest Western power. We pay particular attention to how today’s geopolitical flashpoints, of which Ukraine is among the most critical, emerged to belie post-Cold War expectations of a “peace dividend” and a “unipolar” world, clearly distinguishing the US and the EU roles in these processes. Given the widespread tendency in the West to label Russia “imperialist,” particularly after the integration of Crimea into the Russian Federation, we end our discussion with a consideration of this question which concludes that the term, while it continues to be an appropriate description of the pattern of Western actions, is not so for that of Russian ones.

KEYWORDS:

• Ukraine
• Russia
• NATO
• EU
• geopolitical economy
• post-Cold War
• multipolarity
• US
• Germany

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the invaluable help of Roger Annis in making this issue possible and contributing intellectually to this introduction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Radhika Desai is professor at the Department of Political Studies and director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. She is the author of Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013), Slouching towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics (2nd revised edition, 2004) and Intellectuals and Socialism: “Social Democrats” and the Labour Party (1994), and editor of Theoretical Engagements in Geopolitical Economy (2015), Revitalizing Marxist Theory for Today’s Capitalism (2010) and Developmental and Cultural Nationalisms (2009). With Alan Freeman, she co-edits the Geopolitical Economy book series with Manchester University Press and the Future of Capitalism book series with Pluto Press.

Alan Freeman was a principal economist with the Greater London Authority from 2000 to 2011. He is now retired and lives in Winnipeg where he is co-director with Radhika Desai of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group. He taught economics for 10 years at the University of Greenwich, England, and has in the past been a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University, a research fellow of Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and a research associate of the University of Kent in Canterbury. He regularly publishes online at http://ideas.repec.org/e/pfr102.html. With Radhika Desai, he is co-editor of the Future of World Capitalism book series and the Geopolitical Economy book series. With Andrew Kliman, he is co-editor of Critique of Political Economy (COPE), an online journal of critical economics.

Boris Kagarlitsky is professor at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, and director of the Institute for Globalization Studies and Social Movements (IGSO). He specializes in Russian and international economic history, Russian politics, and international left. His recent books include: The Revolt of the Middle Class (Moscow: Kulturnaya revolutsiya, 2006), Empire of the Periphery: Russia and the World System (London: Pluto Press, 2007), Back in the USSR (London: Seagull Books, 2009), and From Empires to Imperialism: The State and the Rise of Bourgeois Civilisation (London: Routledge, 2014).