Does not bode well.

it was from my latin american history course, favourite one I took, professor taught it from a 100% openly Marxist perspective. Final slide he displayed during his last lecture just said

"There can be no socialism without democracy nor democracy without socialism"

Fuckin based prof.

But anyway this "hegemonic cycle" thing scares the shit out of me given where we are right now.

  • Coolkidbozzy [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    a variable that mixes things up is china aiming to eventually escape the capitalist world-economy, which would mean the united states' biggest competitor wouldn't compete with them anymore along the same capitalist lines

    scientifically, these aren't enough examples to mean anything concrete, so we are in uncharted waters here

    • unperson [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I think the point of the table is that imperialist competition implies war. That the American hegemony is over is quite clear, so we're entering a competition among the imperialists regardless of whether China participates.

      • zxcvbnm [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        What other imperialists are there these days? France? Multi-national corporations?

        • unperson [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Multi-national corporations are part of the definition of imperialism. However they cannot be considered actors of imperialism, since they don't have their own militaries but they need to rely on a bourgeois state to conquer new markets for them.

          France yes, but it's increasingly integrated with Germany and the rest of Western Europe so unless I'm missing something I doubt there will be intra-European competition. So the EU instead of France, even though multiple states may exit the union and realign. The USA will definitely struggle to keep its hegemony. Russia is another imperialist power directly confronted to the previous two. They are all in deep economic recessions, weakened, distrustful and ripe with internal contradictions, like in all pre-war periods. China is none of those things, but they will attempt to preserve the Belt and Road project and their control of the South China Sea.

            • unperson [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Those have always existed, and actually company armies were predominant in the first (mercantilist, East India Company) period of the table. Today they are limited in scope, cant project sufficient air or naval power to be effective except in states that have already been conquered for them by more overt American military action.

          • jabrd [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Erik Prince is somewhere in Africa or China trying to prove you wrong. Gonna be cool living through MGS V, I loved that game

            • unperson [he/him]
              ·
              edit-2
              4 years ago

              During "Peak Hegemony":

              :amerikkka: Hey UN it's time to murder a fifth of Korea!

              :yes-honey-left: Yes honey.

              During "loss of hegemony" they could not even convince NATO that Iraq had WMDs.

              The fact they he has to try is the proof of their decline.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        500,000 dead in the imperial core and no one bars an eye. Get ready for the biggest and bestest meat grinder yet.

        • OgdenTO [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          Nuclear war is such a bogeyman that I find it incredible that 1) it's already happened in WW2, 2) it's very likely to happen again.

          I'm trying to imagine what it would be like if nuclear war were actually happening, and I can't.

          • PaulSmackage [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            4 years ago

            I remember a few years ago watching a bunch of doomer post-apocalyptic movies in a row and being stuck in a state of existential despair for a week straight. Nuclear war is a such a frightening concept that my brain just refuses to think of what would actually happen if it did.

            • OgdenTO [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Even if it were happening in Europe and the middle East and Asia, and not in North America, and I didn't die, I don't think I can shine what it would be like for that to actually be happening.

              Like, so, the ultimate worst thing is now here, and it's real. It's happened there, it could happen anywhere.

  • bottech [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    The world war 3 hypothesis alignes with the analysis in prolekult's documentary History is marching, they propose that world war 3 is inevitable due to complete division of the world by imperialist powers and overaccumulation present in them which can only be solved by redivision of the world

    • sexywheat [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      I think it would probably be the fallout from the Iraq war.

      The fact that USA couldn't convince the UN to get on board with their obviously bullshit war and had to go it alone with their "Coalition of the Willing" plus the impending clusterfuck it caused

  • TankieTanuki [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

  • garbology [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    "1890 - loss of hegemony" is interesting because the UK is generally not considered to have fallen from great power until the Suez Crisis 1956. I guess your prof is basically predicting a humiliating final nail in the coffin of America's loss of superpower status circa ~2070?

    • SerLava [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Yeah there's always a lot of overlap - even if America like, loses territory in 2070 and is totally surpassed by China, they might still be doing jolly imperialist gags for another 100 years. Just in a limited sphere of influence.

      Hell I'm sure the Netherlands is doing something fucky right now, that they owe to the 17th century.

    • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Doesn't seem like he is taking climate change into account because if so I'd bet before 2050 realistically maybe even before ~2035 It will only take a few natural disasters going on concurrently to fuck everything.

      • garbology [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        2050 would be a good year to predict if you're an optimist, imagine China converting to communism as promised while being the dominant economic power.

    • zxcvbnm [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      My guesses? Gilded age stuff. USA gaining steam leading up to overseas imperial designs and hence the Spanish-American War.

      • machiabelly [she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Yeah I was just assuming that there was some sort of important treaty signed in that time, or the fallout from one conflict or another would be relevant. I think there was a global recession in the 1890s, maybe countries became less reliant on british manufacturing after that?

    • sexywheat [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      My knowledge of history ends at about the start of the 20th century, I have no idea.

      • AlexandairBabeuf [they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        the empire got everything they wanted out of it.

        its liberal handwashing to make like it was some kind of failure or mistake

        • hotcouchguy [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          So they had a quick and cheap victory, established a reliable puppet state, and then went on to defeat Iran and remake the entire region in their image? Damn I guess I'm out of the loop, I thought they got bogged down for 20 years, wasted a couple trillion bucks, accidentally installed a government that likes Iran better than the US, and only looted some oil as a consolation prize.

          • AlexandairBabeuf [they/them]
            ·
            4 years ago

            "wasted" money from these wars are in capitalists bank accounts. they don't give a fuck about 'public' expenses, in fact it helps them justify austerity back in the imperial core.

  • margaretsnatcher2020 [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    lol GOOD LUCK implementing socialism through "democracy" when money buys votes and sets polling stations and most of the plebs are dumb as fuck

  • shiteyes [ze/hir]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    It's interesting how much variability there is in the competitive stage. I wonder how long our "competitive" period will take this time and how nukes will influence the development of major wars. Cold war, proxy war and nuclear holocaust are the only options we have left at this point.

    Or if 50 years is just the minimum and I'm just fucked. Aw hell I already knew I was fucked.