Part 1: Theories, Practices, and Arenas of Cultural Imperialism
Imperialism and Culture, Part 1
Session 2
Nkrumah’s
Theory of
Neo-colonialism
&
Galtung’s
Structural Theory of
Imperialism
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NKRUMAH’S THEORY OF NEO-COLONIALISM
 Why “neocolonialism”?
 “The highest stage of imperialism”?
 “Foremost among the neo-colonialists is the United States, which has
long exercised its power in Latin America”
 The centre in the periphery
 Focus: development, trade, prices, industrialization, markets
 Indirect methods:
“the methods of neo-colonialists are subtle and varied. They operate not
only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological
and cultural spheres”
2
 Cultural imperialism as part of neocolonialism:
 Hollywood
 News media
 Evangelism
 Peace Corps
 USIA
3
GALTUNG’S STRUCTURAL THEORY OF IMPERIALISM
 Conceptual building blocks:
 Dependency
 Unequal exchange
 Value added, value minimized; Degree of processing
 Extraction
 center in the Center, and the periphery in the Periphery
 Bridgeheads
 (Dis)harmony of interest
 Inter- and intra-national relations
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 Centre-Periphery Relations
Centre of the periphery: bridgehead
 Definitions: Imperialism
 “the special type of dominance system to be discussed here is
imperialism”
 “Imperialism will be conceived of as a dominance relation between
collectivities, particularly between nations. It is a sophisticated type of
dominance relation which cuts across nations, basing itself on a
bridgehead which the center in the Center nation establishes in the
center of the Periphery nation, for the joint benefit of both. It should
not be confused with other ways in which one collectivity can
dominate another in the sense of exercising power over it”
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 “imperialism is a system that splits up collectivities and relates some
of the parts to each other in relations of harmony of interest, and other
parts in relations of disharmony of interest, or conflict of interest”
 “If we now would capture in a few sentences what imperialism is
about, we might perhaps say something like this: In the Periphery
nation, the center grows more than the periphery, due partly to how
interaction between center and periphery is organized. Without
necessarily thinking of economic interaction, the center is more
enriched than the periphery”
“a combination of intra- and inter-national relations”
“if there is no bridgehead for the Center nation in the center of the
Periphery nation, there cannot be any imperialism by this definition”
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 Two Mechanisms of Imperialism
 (1) the principle of vertical interaction relation
 (2) the principle of feudal interaction structure
Vertical Interaction
(1) the value-exchange between the actors = inter-actor effects
(2) the effects inside the actors = intra-actor effects
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 Three stages or types of exploitation
Feudal Interaction
(1) interaction between Center and Periphery is vertical
(2) interaction between Periphery and Periphery is missing
(3) multilateral interaction involving all three is missing
(4) interaction with the outside world is monopolized by the Center, with
two implications:
(a) Periphery interaction with other Center nations is missing
(b) Center as well as Periphery interaction with Periphery nations
belonging to other Center nations is missing
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 Five Types of Imperialism
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 Communication Imperialism, Cultural Imperialism, Scientific
Imperialism
 feudal interaction
 news communication
“Periphery produces raw material that the Center turns into processed
goods, the Periphery also produces events that the Center turns into
news. This is done by training journalists to see events with Center eyes”
 Cultural Imperialism & Scientific Imperialism
Convertibility
 Conclusions
 Questions
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