Imperialism or global capitalism? Some reflections from Canada

Abstract

In the context of a revived debate over Canada’s location in the global political economy, this paper highlights two recent changes to the property relations of capitalism that problematize the conceptual framework of theories of imperialism and dependency: first, new rights for financial institutions that challenge attempts to surmise meaning from the nationality of capital, and, second, new rights for corporations that restrict nation-states from limiting their accumulation activities.

Keywords:

• Canada
• capitalism
• Globalization
• imperialism
• nation-state

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 See, Carroll, “Global Capitalism”; Harvey, The New Imperialism; Panitch and Gindin, The Making of Global Capitalism; Robinson, “Debate on the New Global Capitalism”; Wood, Empire of Capital.

2 Garrod, “A (Reluctant) Defence.”

3 Hobson, Imperialism.

4 Hilferding, Finance Capital, 33.

5 Weeks, “Imperialism,” 253.

6 Anievas, “Theories of a Global State,” 196; Panitch and Gindin, The Making of Global Capitalism, 112.

7 Levitt, Silent Surrender; Naylor, “The Rise and Fall”; Naylor, The History of Canadian Business; Drache, “Staple-ization.”

8 Carroll, Corporate Power; Carroll, “Dependency, Imperialism”; Kaufman, “The Internationalization of Canadian Bank Capital”; Moore and Wells, Imperialism and the National Question; McNally, “Staple Theory as Commodity Fetishism”; Niosi, Canadian Multinationals; Resnick, “The Maturing of Canadian Capitalism.”

9 Kellogg, “Kari Levitt,” 48. On dependency, see Hurtig, The Vanishing Country; Ikeda, “Zonal Structure”; Jackson, “From Leaps of Faith”; McQuaig, Holding the Bully's Coat; Seccareccia, “Critical Macroeconomic Aspects”; Stanford, “Staples, Deindustrialization”; Stanford, The Staple Theory @ 50; Watkins, “Staples Redux.” On imperialism, see Albo and Klassen, Empire's Ally; Burgess, “Foreign Direct Investment”; Burgess, Canada's Location in the World System; Kellogg, “Kari Levitt”; Kellogg, “Of Nails and Needles”; Kellogg, Escape from the Staples Trap; Klassen, “Hollowing Out?”; Klassen, “Canada and the New Imperialism”; Klassen, Joining Empire.

10 Klassen, Joining Empire, 30.

11 Clement, The Canadian Corporate Elite; Clement, Continental Corporate Power; Williams, Not for Export; Williams, “On Determining Canada's Location.”

12 Williams, “On Determining Canada's Location,” 15. See also Clement, Continental Corporate Power, 130.

13 Mertins-Kirkwood, Unmasking the Trans-Pacific Partnership, 17.

14 Watkins, “The Political Economy of Growth.”

15 Galbraith, Canadian Banking; Sweeny, “Banking as Class Action”; Van Houten, Corporate Canada.

16 Macdonald, “Going Global,” 185.

17 Lawson, “Canada as Churkendoose,” 149.

18 Marchak, “Canadian Political Economy,” 682.

19 Marchak, “Canadian Political Economy,” 682.

20 Marchak, “Canadian Political Economy,” 682.

21 Marx, Capital: Volume 3, 953.

22 Marx, “A Contribution to the Critique,” 4.

23 Prudham and Coleman, “Introduction,” 7.

24 Marx, “Critical Notes,” 8.

25 Marx and Engels, The German Ideology, 186–87.

26 Teeple, “Honoured in the Breach,” 137.

27 Garrod, “A (Reluctant) Defence.”

28 Carroll, “Rethinking the Transnational Capitalist Class,” 201–2.

29 Coleman and Porter, “‘Playin’ Along’: Canada and Global Finance.”

30 Robinson, Global Capitalism, 34.

31 See, Burgess, Canada's Location in the World System; Gordon and Webber, “Canadian Capital”; Kellogg, Escape from the Staples Trap; Klassen, Joining Empire.

32 Canadian direct investment abroad was more than 15 times larger in 2017 than in 1987. Foreign direct investment in Canada was more than seven times larger in 2017 than in 1987. See CANSIM, 376-0051.

33 Snyder, “Not Even on the Radar Screen,” highlights capital’s most recent exodus from Canada.

34 Statistics Canada, “The Daily–Foreign Direct Investment, 2017,” notes, for instance, that finance and insurance constituted a 36.6% share of all outward Canadian investment in 2017.

35 Germain, Global Politics, 54.

36 Deneault and Sacher, Imperial Canada Inc., 16.

37 See Deneault and Sacher, Imperial Canada Inc.; Gordon, Imperialist Canada; Gordon and Webber, “Imperialism and Resistance”; Gordon and Webber, “Canada and the Honduran Coup”; Gordon and Webber, “Post-Coup Honduras”; Gordan and Webber, “Canadian Geopolitics”; Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction; Veltmeyer, “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Extraction”; Veltmeyer, “The Natural Resource Dynamics of Postneoliberalism.”

38 Garrod and Macdonald, “Rethinking ‘Canadian Mining Imperialism,’” 111–12.

39 Gordon and Webber, “Canadian Capital,” make this claim about our work. It is a common misconception.

40 Royal Bank of Canada, “Annual Report 2017,” 208. See also, Deneault, Canada: A New Tax Haven.

41 Magna, Annual Information Form 2018, 36.

42 George Weston Limited, “Annual Information Form 2017,” 3–9.

43 Associated British Foods, “Annual Report and Accounts 2017.”

44 Suncor Energy Inc., “Annual Information Form 2018,” 5; see also Carroll, “Canada's Carbon-Elite.”

45 Wilson, Deregulating Telecommunications.

46 Burgess, Canada's Location in the World System, 293.

47 Burgess, Canada's Location in the World System, 293.

48 Clarkson and Wood, A Perilous Imbalance, 70.

49 Robinson, “Capitalist Globalization,” 411.

50 Keenan, “Made in Mexico.”

51 Brennan, “The Power Underpinnings,” 24.

52 See McBride, Paradigm Shift; Van Houten, Corporate Canada.

53 Higgins, “Canada Says ‘Hard No.’”

54 Weissman, “Justin Trudeau Says there was Almost a NAFTA Deal.”

55 Zimonjic, “Chocolate vs. Steel.”

56 Thomas and Wiseman, “Macron Warns Trump.”

57 Blanchfield, “In Washington to Talk About Trade.”

58 Clarkson, Does North America Exist? 470.

59 Dyer, “Canadian and Indian Companies Ink Deals.”

60 Ivison, “On Trans Mountain.”

61 CBC News, “Liberal Government to Buy.”

62 Barlow and Dey, “Backroom Deals on NAFTA”; Patterson, “Could Texas-based Kinder Morgan use NAFTA.”

63 Jessop, “The World Market,” 210.

64 McBride, Paradigm Shift, 186.

65 Sassen, Territory, Authority, Rights, 36.

66 Nichols, “Expanding Property Rights,” 22.

67 Marx, Capital: Volume 3, 953.

68 Marx, “A Contribution to the Critique,” 4.

69 Garrod, “A (Reluctant) Defence”; Sassen, Territory, Authority, Rights.

70 Sassen, Territory, Authority, Rights, 143.

71 Clarkson and Wood, A Perilous Imbalance, 69.

72 Garrod, “A (Reluctant) Defence.”

73 Makinen, “China Left Out.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

J. Z. Garrod

J. Z. Garrod received his PhD from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.