>Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>> I think one reason many leftists
>> can't stop bashing Hardt & Negri is that they tried to rethink the
>> imperial system as a more collegial, dispersed, decentered structure
>> (though now they're curiously appealing to the non-U.S. elements to
>> demand a Magna Carta). You can't very well say "Empire out of
>> Everywhere!" if Empire is more or less everywhere.
>
>Why call it "Empire" if it is more or less everywhere? Why not call
>it "Capitalism"?
You could, but there is a hierarchical aspect to the structure. The U.S. isn't undisputed Master, as is being proved in Iraq every day, but it is more than the first among equals, with the other G7 countries in the next tier, big "Third World" countries like Brazil, China, India, and Russia in the next, etc., down to Lesotho and Vanuatu.
Doug