> If you take into account the proto-capitalism that emerged in the wake of
> the collapse of Medieval civilization, it's been going on for over 600
> years. The constant during this era is expansion of Western society into
> new lands. It actually got going within Europe itself, as Christendom
> steadily penetrated into the original Western frontier-- the Iberian
> Peninsula. Spain and Portugal, which resulted from this conquest, extended
> it to the New World. Next we had the westward expansion of the United
> States, out of which was born American imperialism, which manifests today
> with the forced liberalization of economies throughout the South.
John sez:
"Western" imperialism today, however, is complicated by the growing existence of neo-comprador elites in the post-NAM "Third World" -- the overseas Chinese business networks and Lippos of the world -- which makes for a much more ambiguous picture of the political fault lines in a world still characterized by (intensifying) uneven development.
J Gulick