Jacobin Radio Jacobin Radio: Imperialism in the 21st Century w/ Ilya Matveev
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Oct 7, 2025 Ilya Matveev, a Russian political economist and dissident scholar, dives deep into the complexities of 21st-century imperialism. He explores the fierce inter-imperialist rivalry among Russia, China, and the U.S., highlighting China's industrial might and Russia's destabilizing actions in Ukraine. Matveev critiques existing imperialism theories and discusses how leaders' ideologies shape geopolitics. He emphasizes grassroots movements as crucial to preventing conflicts and examines India's pivotal role in U.S.-China dynamics.
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Episode notes
Paper Versus Book Origin Story
- Ilya Matveev notes the podcast article grew from his broader book project but is not itself part of the book.
- He wrote it to place Russia within a wider picture of U.S.-China-Russia geopolitics.
Production–Power Asymmetry
- China dominates global manufacturing, controlling over a third of world industrial production and key supply chains like solar panels.
- The United States retains overwhelming military and financial dominance, creating a strategic asymmetry between production and hard power.
Existing Theories Fall Short
- Existing left theories (transnational capitalist class, sub-imperialism, contender states) fail to explain current geopolitics between China, Russia, and the U.S.
- We need new frameworks that combine structural capitalist contradictions with state agency and ideology.
