The Crisis of the Twenty-First Century Empire in the Age of Austerity

Empire is one of the oldest forms of political organisation and has dominated societies in all parts of the world. Yet, despite the emergence of nation-states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the apparent end of empire with the breakup of European colonial regimes and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century, empire remains powerful in the modern world. The EU’s accession policies, the United States’ War on Terror, China’s economic developments in Africa, among others, draw accusations of imperial agendas. Empire is no stranger to crisis but, in recent years, the effects of global austerity have forced states, both powerful and weak, to adapt, with varying degrees of success and failure. The confusions, contradictions, and contestations which emerge from imperial crisis point to a vital question – how is Austerity changing Empire and how will this shape tomorrow’s world? This book was published as a special issue of Global Discourse.

1. Introduction: Between these two kinds of death Russell Foster 2. Building an empire or not? Athenian imperialism and the United States in the twenty-first century Alexandros Koutsoukis 3. On empire and strategy: a reply to Alexandros Koutsoukis Constantinos Koliopoulos 4. East, West, Rome’s best? The imperial turn Adrian Campbell 5. The empire never ended: a response to Adrian Campbell Neville Morley 6. The new pirate wars: the world market as imperial formation Amedeo Policante 7. Piracy and the international rule of law: reply to Amedeo Policante Eliga H. Gould 8. ‘…territorial acquisitions are among the landmarks of our history’: the buying and leasing of imperial territory Dominic Alessio 9. ‘ "… territorial acquisitions are among the landmarks of our history": the buying and leasing of imperial territory’: a reply to Dominic Alessio Simon Philpott 10. From post-imperial Britain to post-British imperialism Callum McCormick 11. A comment on British imperial decline and the conditions of emergence for Scottish nationalism: reply to Callum McCormick Neil Davidson Essays 12. Return of the Maxim Gun? Technology and empire in an age of austerity Michael A. Reynolds 13. The English School and the concept of ‘empire’: theoretical and practical/political implications Yannis A. Stivachtis 14. Relinquishing and governing the volatile: the many Afghanistans and critical research agendas of NATO’s governance Bojan Savic Symposium on the Falkland Islands Dispute15. The Falkland/Malvinas dispute: a contemporary battle between history and memory Christopher J. Hewer 16. Malvinas: politics, territory and internationalism Ronaldo Munck 17. A geopolitical perspective on Argentina’s Malvinas/Falkland claims David J. Keeling 18. Consolidate! Britain, the Falkland Islands and wider the South Atlantic/Antarctic Klaus Dodds Book Review Symposiums 19. Making the Future: Occupations, Interventions, Empire and Resistance, By Noam Chomsky: Reviews and Reply Juliana Bidadanure, Jason Dittmer, Fred Dallmayr, Ben Coulson, Noam Chomsky 20. Rational Empires: Institutional Incentives and Imperial Expansion, By Leo Blanken: Reviews and Reply April R. Biccum, Frank C. Zagare, Russell Foster, Leo Blanken

Russell Foster is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a PhD student at Newcastle University. His work concerns the EU as a modern empire. He is the author of ‘Tabula Imperii Europae: A Cartographic Approach to the Current Debate on the European Union as Empire’, published in Geopolitics. Matthew Johnson is a Lecturer and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in Politics, Philosophy and Religion at the University of Lancaster. He is interested in the evaluation of culture and the effect of forms of intervention on wellbeing. He has authored Evaluting Culture (Palgrave) and edited The Legacy of Marxism (Continuum). Mark Edward is an independent researcher. He completed his PhD in politics at Newcastle University and is interested in popular culture and world politics, with a focus on future practices of consumerism represented in film.