The global policies of the United States over the years encouraged the widespread belief that we live in a new era of imperialism. But is this belief true, and what does 'imperialism' mean? Exploring these questions, this book intervenes in one of the main political and intellectual debates of the day. Epigraph Introduction: Empire of Theory, Theories of Empire Part I: Theory 1. The Classical Legacy 1.1 Continuing Marx s Capital 1.2 Luxemburg s fertile diversion 1.3 The Lenin Bukharin synthesis 1.4 Organized capitalism and economic crises 1.5 Spectres of ultra imperialism 2. Capitalism and the State System 2.1 Rethinking the theory of imperialism 2.2 Conceptualizing the state system 2.3 Interests and ideologies Part II: History 3. Capitalism and La Longue Durée 3.1 What is capitalism? 3.2 Markets and empires 3.3 The sinews of capitalist power 4. Ages of Imperialism 4.1 Periodizing imperialism 4.2 Classical imperialism (1870 1945) (i) A liberal world economy (ii) An economically and politically multipolar world (iii) Territorial expansion (iv) Military competition and state capitalism (v) Race and empire 4.3 Superpower imperialism (1945 1991) (i) Open Door imperialism (ii) The partial dissociation of economic and geopolitical competition (iii) The Third World malign neglect and partial industrialization 5. Imperialism and Global Political Economy Today 5.1 The specificity of American imperialism 5.2 Global capitalism at the Pillars of Hercules? (i) Entrenched uneven development (ii) A persisting crisis of profitability (iii) A redistribution of global economic power (iv) Continuing geopolitical competition