Commodifying Plunder: Unequal Exchange and the Hidden Logic of Imperialism

Who benefits when wealthy countries seek 'economic co-operation' ? Does economic expansion bring commerce and violence, pillage and genocide to less wealthy countries? Contemporary corporations and their owners - equipped with wealth, influence, and empowered by dominant states and global institutions - embody old-style colonial ruthlessness in new forms. Violence riddles global production, through routinised sweatshop labour, environmental degradation, resource grabs, lost livelihoods - behind a veil of 'development' and 'civilised' progress. Strip away overt violence, and contemporary trade is still plunder, just neatly commodified and concealed. Lengthy and complex supply chains obscure the conditions in which products are made. International trade brings income inequality. Labour's share of wealth declines. Few of us would steal food from a starving three-year-old or abduct a mother to exploit her, and yet our everyday participation in the economy has the same effect. This book explains basic concepts of Marxist economic theory. It seeks to be a resource for scholars and activists - accessible while preserving depth, serious but not opaque. It has a simple message: This system does not end well unless we end it.