New Imperialists : Ideologies of Empire

HANIEH: Praising Empire 189
the Third World is the result of predatory instincts, not from the Third
World itself, however, but rather their colonial masters. His solution to
the problem provides a clear example of how he sees the role of the
imperium in an era of failed states. Firstly, he proposes that ownership of
the “mines and wells” be transferred to an international body, which he
terms the International Resource Fund (perhaps constituted by an
amalgamation of the I.M.F. and World Bank). The political form of the
country could then be structured around the use of the natural resources.
In the case of Iraq, he argues:
there is no reason to hold this artificial state together. It is not a
nation. The only conceivable reason to keep it united is its oil
wealth, concentrated in the north, controlled by the Kurds, and in
the South, by the Shia . . . One solution would be to put the
revenue from Iraq’s oil wealth into [an] International Resources
Fund (I.N.R.F.) . . . and for three autonomous self-governing
regions to be created. 67
Lal recognizes that nations whose natural resources have been expropriated
in such a manner may retain a desire to regain their wealth. In
2004, while speaking to a Cato Institute conference in Russia on the role
of international organizations, Lal asked: how could “predators” be
prevented from attacking and capturing the “mines and wells” generating
the rents? His answer:
Here the military prowess of an Imperial power or a coalition of
such powers is crucial. Such a power could follow the example of
China during the inter-war period. Foreign companies could be
leased territory which they could protect with their own police
forces, in return for royalties to the I.N.R.F. But even this privatized
solution would require the imperial power to maintain
“gunboats and Gurkhas” at the ready, in case some local predator
decided to mount a challenge to the private controllers of these
mines. 68
In other words, there are some countries in the current world order
whose states lack the requisite disciplinary mechanisms to facilitate
imperial plunder. These so-called “failed states” should have their
functions privatized by international corporations – backed up by the
might of the imperial army if necessary.