Reclaiming Imperialism as a Theoretical Concept Grounded in Concrete History: Review of Imperialism, As Rampant Today as in the Past by Samir Saul

This review article examines Samir Saul’s Imperialism, As Rampant Today as in the Past (Baraka Books, 2025) as a decisive intervention against the conceptual dilution of imperialism in contemporary academia. It argues that Saul restores imperialism as a historically grounded and materially precise analytical concept, rooted in Western colonialism and sustained through extra-economic coercion. Against liberal, idealist, and Eurocentric approaches, Saul emphasizes the continuity of imperialism from colonial plunder to modern financialized domination. Engaging critically with Marx, Hilferding, Lenin, Luxemburg, and others, Saul reasserts imperialism as a global class relation structured by the systematic transfer of surplus from the Global South to the Western core. The essay highlights Saul’s periodization of imperialism—prehistorical, mercantilist, liberal, and US-led postcolonial—and underscores the book’s relevance for understanding contemporary imperialist power, neoliberal globalization, and ongoing global inequality.