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Global Capitalism And Its Impact On The United States

Decent Essays

It is not just the arbitrary concepts of capitalism which have a tendency to expand, under the Marxist understanding of the state, capitalist states will make foreign policy decisions for the benefit of global capitalism. The increased intervention by western states in the Marxist view is about the sole purpose of the expansion of capitalism in the search of profit for the companies, using the state as a mobiliser for action towards such an end. Mark Rupert brought forward a case study of such “imperialism” in action, in the case of the US. Global capitalist activities require huge amounts of energy, and the cheapest or most efficient form is petroleum. Despite not being a democracy and not practising equality, or respecting human rights, all core values to the US, Saudi Arabia remains one of the US’s closest allies. If the actions of the US abroad primarily concerned democracy promotion, human rights and core liberal values, this alliance does not make sense, but when you use a Marxist lens, and consider that alliances are about capitalism, you quickly understand why Saudi Arabia, a large producer of oil is a huge geopolitical ally of the US. This also applies to explaining enemies, for example Cuba and Qaddafi’s Libya. Cuba on the one hand is one of the few countries which still ideologically rejects capitalism as a form of organising society, which has resulted in a ban on all trade with Cuba. Alternatively, Qaddafi, who was the leader of an oil rich Libya for many years

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