War, Politics, and the Future of Imperialism

Abstract

This article is a tentative response to a question concerning the future of the present forms of imperialism. On the basis of a general assessment of the causes and course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I argue that the political order established by Vladimir Putin at the beginning of his term is now disintegrating precisely because of his insistent efforts to consolidate, strengthen and extend that order. The diagnosis results from an analysis of the philosophical and ideological background of Putin’s conception of power and the current Russian political elite’s overwhelming desire to win recognition from the international community. Pointing to the genesis of the conflict, I also analyse Germany’s attitude towards Putin’s Russia and the problem of moral symmetry between Russia’s and US military interventions. In conclusion, I argue against the interpretation of the Russo-Ukrainian war as a proxy war between two imperialisms and suggest that the present-day forms of imperialism are on the wane. A crucial methodological role in this paper is played by the notoriously ambiguous concept of “order.” The following is not intended so much to dispel this ambiguity, but rather to illustrate it.