The Empire's New Clothes: Paradigm Lost, and Regained

by Harry Harootunian

Empire and imperialism have returned with a vengeance—not as a set of ideas and practices to be exhumed by the historians, but as paradigms for twenty-first-century living. Harry Harootunian turns his unrelenting gaze to signs of the new imperialism in the world—from the United States’ occupation of Iraq to other supposed terrorist enclaves around the globe.

The arguments being made today for imperialism’s historical and contemporary value echo earlier rationales for modernization theory and its conception of “development” during the heyday of the Cold War. Harootunian decisively cuts through the layers to reveal that under the new clothes, it’s the same empire.

136 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2004

Reviews

[fabio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative account and potent critique of the entanglement of American hegemony and the social sciences. Harootunian argues that "the figure of the empire, however shadowy, has never been far from the desire of modernization" (p. 103). Imperialism, disowned as a political theory in previous decades and reduced to historical discourse began to reemerge by the turn of the century. Mentions of an American Empire began to resurface after 9/11 and more forcefully after the invasion of Irak, though in a milder or euphemistic way, or even reappraised as a positive aspect of American policy.

Reviewing the history of modernization theory, he exposes the continuities and transformations of the imperial paradigm through the supervised diffusion of liberal demoracy and, more crucially, the principles of capitalism after WWII. British imperialism, in particular, became a historical model that provided American scholars a way to argue in favor of imperialism as a vehicle for political change (coded as "regime change" in current parlance) and colonialism as a necessary "stage" in the cultural evolution of the non-West.

Harootunian, a specialist in Japanese history, explains with particular detail the ways in which American modernizers championed the case of Japan as a laboratory and example (despite cultural specificities) for other nations.

The writing itself is a little difficult to follow because of the author's particular penchant for long paragraphs and somewhat disorganized style. Despite this, it is definitely a worth read.

[Harry Fulgencio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Resoundingly true observations about the changing connotation about the meaning of globalization akin to globalisation and the growing role of US as parent of the modern imperialism cloaked as economic and political modernization.

An easy read,apart from some social or political science jargon, as it is 123 pages and text is not too complicated. It leaves you wanting to have political and economic discussions.