Imperialism in Mozambique : some problems of analysis

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze some problems and questions of Imperialism in Mozambique. Studies of modern imperialism are, on the whole, economics. They, focus on the flow of capital and surplus, the unequal nature of trade etc. Studies of imperialism on the metropolitan centers or on the underdevelopment of the periphery. There are still a number of obstacles in the way of an analysis that concretely relates the center and the periphery of the world capitalist system. The relationship between nation states and the international corporations has remained obscure. Recent studies of imperialism have tended to assume that the phenomenon is monolithic and center on the U.S. A. There has been a general failure to locate or analyze the rivalry that "exists between various different metropolitan centers, though Mandel’s recent essay 'on the relationship between Europe and America begins to put this right. The Soviet Bloc features as a "residual category" in almost all analyses of imperialism. It is treated simply as; a market and a source of raw materials which is denied to imperialism and its internal dynamics and foreign policy are not analyzed. There are, of course, many other problems, but these seven are quite central, and it must be clear that any satisfactory theory of imperialism must come to grips with then. One might now ask how this relates to Mozambique.