Australia's Position in the Capitalist World System: Marxist Theories of Imperialism and Australian Marxism

Abstract

There appears to be renewed interest in imperialism among Marxists and a resurgence of both Marxist theories of imperialism and Marxist analyses of Australia's position in the capitalist world system. Two main theses on Australia's position in the capitalist world system can be identified: that Australia is dominated by foreign imperialism; and that Australia is an independent imperialist power. To understand Australia's position in the capitalist world system, one must understand imperialism. Without an understanding of how Marxist theories of imperialism have influenced Australian Marxist analyses, nor a readily available resource outlining the historic and contemporary literature, Australian Marxists risk dogmatically re-adopting historic positions without understanding what influenced such positions, revisiting dead-ends, or making the same mistakes in future analyses. However, there is no existing work that comprehensively surveys Australian Marxist analyses of Australia's position in the capitalist world system, let alone how the Marxist theory of imperialism itself has influenced the analyses. This thesis contributes to Australian Marxist political economy and the debate surrounding Australia's position in the capitalist world system by investigating how the Marxist theory of imperialism has influenced Australian Marxist analyses of Australia's position in the capitalist world system, shedding light on the dialectic between Marxist theory on the one hand, and its application to Australian material conditions by Marxists on the other. The research will undertake a qualitative textual analysis of the published literature on Marxist theories of imperialism and on Marxist analyses of Australia's position in the capitalist world system. In addition, qualitative thematic analysis will be employed to demonstrate the links between the broader trends in the literature on Marxist theories of imperialism and on Australian Marxist analyses of Australia's position in the capitalist world system. The Marxist theory of imperialism is the most important key to understanding the position of Australia in the capitalist world system. It has had, and continues to have, a real and discernible impact on the theory and praxis of Australian Marxists. This thesis will show that Marxist theories of imperialism have provided the main framework for attempts to understand Australia's position in the capitalist world system. In doing so, it will provide a useful resource for all who are interested in understanding the Marxist theory of imperialism, the historic debate on Australia's position in the capitalist world system and creating new analyses that advance our collective knowledge.