Exported capital requires strong state power over new domains

Evidence

All nation-states, capitalist and state socialist, within the “developed” sectors of the world, are primarily reliant upon industrial production for the generation of the wealth upon which their tax revenues are based. The socialist countries form something of an enclave within the capitalist world economy as a whole, industry being more directly subject to political imperatives. These states are scarcely post-capitalist, but the influence of capitalistic markets upon the distribution of goods and labour power is substantially muted. The pursuit of growth by both Western and East European societies inevitably pushes economic interests to the forefront of the policies which states pursue in the international arena. But it is surely plain to all, save those under the sway of historical materialism, that the material involvements of nation-states are not governed purely by economic considerations, real or perceived. The influence of any particular state within the global political order is strongly conditioned by the level of its wealth (and the connection between this and military strength). However, states derive their power from their sovereign capabilities, as Hans J. Morgenthau emphasises. They do not operate as economic machines, but as “actors” jealous of their territorial rights, concerned with the fostering of national cultures, and having strategic geopolitical involvements with other states or alliances of states. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 181 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Expansion—exporting money rather than people—differs fundamentally from conquest; States chose power export over sacrifice of national wealth; Saturated domestic capitalism must export to survive. (+8 more)

Related

• State power derives from sovereign capabilities, not merely economic wealth (similarity 0.85)
• States chose power export over sacrifice of national wealth (similarity 0.84)
• States were once expected to produce passions, not merely check them (similarity 0.81)
• Industrial growth subordinated political power to economic capacity (similarity 0.81)
• Capitalism’s non-political nature enabled its global penetration beyond state reach (similarity 0.78)
• Capitalism’s growth imperative drives the bourgeoisie to force expansion onto the state (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• State power derives from sovereign capabilities, not merely economic wealth #expands (0.80) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 181
• Risk-prone expansion drives state intervention beyond mere apparatus preservation #corroborates (0.78)
• Colonial power export freed capital accumulation from all economic and ethical laws #corroborates (0.75)
• Neocolonialism keeps formally independent states economically and politically directed from outside #expands (0.75) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 181
• Core nations need peripheral resource extraction to prevent realisation crises #corroborates (0.70) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 13