This review surveys two decades of academic research on the question of contemporary imperialism and holds it up against the historical record of America’s increasingly violent entanglements in the Middle East over the course of the previous half century, though particularly since 2001. While early contributions to this literature emerged from a different context than the one they often sought or were expected to explain, others attributed a simplistic and problematic understanding of the relationship between US foreign policy and the political-economy of petroleum. Later contributions then eschewed a close analysis of imperialism in the Middle East in favor of a broader accounting of the dynamics of global capitalism. This review ultimately critiques the widespread assumption that the vitality of hegemony and capital must be assessed in relation to their ability to secure control and homogenous conditions of reproduction. A more robust understanding must be based in an approach that views the economic and the political not as fundamental units of analysis but as sites of struggle in the historical and contemporary constitution of imperialism.

中文翻译：

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一场理论战争：对美帝国主义在中东的解释

这篇评论回顾了二十年来关于当代帝国主义问题的学术研究，并将其与美国在过去半个世纪中，尤其是自 2001 年以来在中东日益激烈的纠缠的历史记录进行对比。虽然早期对此的贡献尽管文学作品的背景与他们经常寻求或期望解释的背景不同，但其他人认为对美国外交政策与石油政治经济之间关系的理解过于简单且存在问题。后来的文章避开了对中东帝国主义的仔细分析，而倾向于对全球资本主义的动态进行更广泛的解释。这篇评论最终批判了一种普遍的假设，即霸权和资本的活力必须根据它们确保控制和同质再生产条件的能力来评估。更稳健的理解必须基于这样一种方法，即不将经济和政治视为基本的分析单位，而是将其视为帝国主义历史和当代构成中的斗争场所。