----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
> We have here an either/or, which can be (provisionally) resolved in
> coalitions but cannot be resolved in theory (i.e. in understanding of
> the fundamental forces which generate human relations in the early 21st
> century). The fundamental isue cannot be usefully debated on maillists;
> all we can do is clarify the contending positions, and then explore the
> various ways in which the difference can be (provisionally) resolved in
> coalitions.
>
> 1. Imperialism is a policy.
>
> 2. Imperialism is the mode of existence of capitalism.
>
> ---
>
> My position is No. 2. Ian's No. 1.
======================
Oh lordy. 2 and 1 are complementary and right now we need to understand 1 as 2 is, as you say, at a higher level of abstraction and not necessarily worth our time in the medium-short term for stopping the war and moving on to confronting/dismantling the main inter-intra-national institutional pillars that make 2 a *dynamical* process. And that is why Poulantzas and Tilly and William Reno and Nancy Hartsmann and Nancy Lee Peluso are far better guides than Lenin is.
Ian