Imperialism as we knew it may
be no more, but Empire is alive and well. It is, as Michael Hardt and
Antonio Negri demonstrate in this bold work, the new political order
of globalization. It is easy to recognize the contemporary economic,
cultural, and legal transformations taking place across the globe but
difficult to understand them. Hardt and Negri contend that they
should be seen in line with our historical understanding of Empire as
a universal order that accepts no boundaries or limits. Their book
shows how this emerging Empire is fundamentally different from the
imperialism of European dominance and capitalist expansion in
previous eras. Rather, today’s Empire draws on elements of U.S.
constitutionalism, with its tradition of hybrid identities and
expanding frontiers.
Empire
identifies a radical shift in concepts that form the philosophical
basis of modern politics, concepts such as sovereignty, nation, and
people. Hardt and Negri link this philosophical transformation to
cultural and economic changes in postmodern society—to new forms of
racism, new conceptions of identity and difference, new networks of
communication and control, and new paths of migration. They also show
how the power of transnational corporations and the increasing
predominance of postindustrial forms of labor and production help to
define the new imperial global order.
More
than analysis, Empire is also an unabashedly utopian work of
political philosophy, a new Communist Manifesto. Looking beyond the
regimes of exploitation and control that characterize today’s world
order, it seeks an alternative political paradigm—the basis for a
truly democratic global society.