Capitalism’s growth imperative drives the bourgeoisie to force expansion onto the state

Evidence

Expansion as a permanent and supreme aim of politics is the central political idea of imperialism. Since it implies neither temporary looting nor the more lasting assimilation of conquest, it is an entirely new concept in the long history of political thought and action. The reason for this surprising originality—surprising because entirely new concepts are very rare in politics—is simply that this concept is not really political at all, but has its origin in the realm of business speculation, where expansion meant the permanent broadening of industrial production and economic transactions characteristic of the nineteenth century. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 344 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Expansion as permanent political aim originates in business speculation, not political thought — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 344; Saturated domestic capitalism must export to survive.

Related

• Expansion as permanent political aim originates in business speculation, not political thought (similarity 0.92)
• Capitalism’s growth law forced the bourgeoisie to seize politics for expansion (similarity 0.88)
• Capital export once protected by power made expansion a permanent function of the nation-state (similarity 0.83)
• Imperial expansion rescued the bourgeoisie from being superfluous within the nation. (similarity 0.82)
• Expansionist competition among empires required political and police restraint, not market self-regulation (similarity 0.81)
• Imperialism arose from oversaved capital seeking foreign investment, not territorial motives (similarity 0.81)
• Even anti-imperialist parliamentarians were coopted by believing expansion necessary for national survival. (similarity 0.79)
• Early geopoliticians rationalized imperial expansion through national destiny ideologies (similarity 0.78)
• Totalitarian expansion is driven by ideological consistency, not by power or profit (similarity 0.78)
• Imperialism differed from adventure by presenting unlimited expansion as a permanent common national interest (similarity 0.78)
• Exported capital requires strong state power over new domains (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Expansion as permanent political aim originates in business speculation, not political thought #corroborates (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 344