The actuality of imperialism and the contribution of Johan Galtung, 50 years later

Abstract

This article defends the relevance of imperialism as an analytical category to think about contemporary capitalism and, in this sense, the need to revisit a contribution unduly neglected by the literature: Johan Galtung's structural theory of imperialism, elaborated fifty years ago. This theory refers to the role of violence as the difference between potential and realized capacity, and addresses the fundamental dimensions of the phenomenon (economic, military, communicating, political, and cultural), its mechanisms, and phases. Thus, to identify possible shortcomings that could be solved by Galtung's work, classical approaches and recent studies of imperialism are reviewed in a non-exhaustive way. At the same time, the structural theory of imperialism presents epistemological and ontological weaknesses that need to be remedied, so that it can provide interpretive instruments but also tools of political action to confront contemporary imperialist capitalism.