Critical review on David Harvey’s “The New Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession”

Abstract

Global capitalism leads to the problem of overaccumulation of wealth and capital results in surplus of labour and capital. Accumulation by dispossession is one of the major ways by which these surplus values of labour and capital can be absorbed. Accumulation by dispossession has given birth to the concept of new imperialism. New imperialism is not a new term. It developed along with the colonisation of the countries during the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. The period characterised an unprecedented pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions. New imperialism had uplifted the capitalist system across the globe where uneven growth among the different sectors and nations was the common feature and also deprived the weaker sections of the society from the economic and other benefits. Though, David Harvey in his work presented the negative impacts of the new imperialism but he denied the facts that it also brought positive outcomes across the globe.