> "The members of the Group of Seven (G-7) are Canada, France, Germany,
> Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, which
> together account for about two-thirds of the world's economic output"
> (@ <http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/econ/group8/g8what.htm>). Japan
> remains the only non-Euro/American state in the club of the rich.
> China may be invited to join the club, as Russia has. I can't think
> of any possible exception in the near future.
Even the G8 is itself dominated by one state, with a GDP more than double any of the others, although yes, it does represent the eight biggest national economies. Minus China which, if Hong Kong were included, would be bigger than France. And plus Russia, which is barely in the top 15, but still counts as "imperial" on the basis of its military strength. Although Canadian capital has a distinctive and global character, especially in the mining & energy sector, it does not have the military budget (for example) to be considered a significant imperial player.
Note also that it is difficult to draw a line between "imperial" and "imperialised" on the basis of national GDP alone, since there is not only a big difference between the US and Japan, but also between those two and the rest. If the EU was a state, rather than a loose confederation, its economic and military strength might possibly rival the US at some point in the future. But not at the moment.
Mexico, Brazil, India and S.Korea have bigger economies than the Netherlands, Australia or Russia. Obviously Mexico is unlikely to have much influence in Russia, but it may have a significant role in Central America. Brazil and India do both have influence over their smaller neighbours. Just ask a Uruguayan or a Sri Lankan.
In any case total GDP could only be a very crude indicator of imperialism compared to a FDI per capita, military budget per capita, foreign aid per capita and so on. None of which are reliable on their own. If anyone knows of any studies which include all of these things, I'd be interested to hear of them.
regards,
Grant.