The Changing Face of Imperialism. Colonialism to Contemporary Capitalism

The collection of papers in the present volume originated from a Conference titled “Imperialism Old and New” which was held in Delhi, in February 2015. Papers included in the book include some which were presented in the conference. Their final versions incorporate thorough revisions which has added further insights and perspectives to the original papers. On the whole this is an exercise to throw new lights on a topic like imperialism in its conceptual, historical and the current context. It aims to show the relevance of imperialism, as a concept or even better, as a continuous arrangement, which traversed from the early years of empire-colonies during late nineteenth century to the current design of expropriation on part of those who are strong by wielding power in relation to others who are weak. In the literature we find varied interpretations of what imperialism stands for, or even whether the notion has any relevance at all, in contemporary capitalism. The variations as above, however, do not lessen the significance of what can be observed as the common ground underlying the alternate interpretations. The unity which runs across the diverse pattern of expropriations under imperialism makes it even more important to put together a set of papers dealing with different approaches to what can be characterised as imperialism. This book offers a similar exercise, providing papers dealing with the alternate interpretations, of imperialism and its changing pattern over space and time.