In 2024, the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Global South Insights (GSI) published a study entitled: Hyper-Imperialism, A Dangerous Decadent New Stage. Based on Lenin’s definition ­of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, the study outlines the declining hegemony of the Global North’s “rules-based international order” under the auspice of the USA and empirically details the changing geopolitical landscape and the new possibilities for emergent organisations of the Global South.

In this data-based study, Global North states are mainly considered vassals to the USA, with various levels of integration into the imperialist system, depicted by a ring model. The closest allies are defined by total military, political and economic integration, some shared history, as well as intelligence sharing agreements (Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Canada).

The study itself provides 5 areas of research in which hegemony on the world stage is being measured.

• Military
• Resource extraction
• Information Industry
• Political Legitimacy
• Economic growth

Hyperimperialism proves that the US-led imperialist block is indeed losing its grip on some of these axes while retaining clear hegemony in others, especially in terms of military and information warfare.

The study considers European countries as subordinate to US leadership to the extent that they have largely given up a sovereign independent foreign policy even to the detriment of their own economic interests. One proof of this hypothesis is the foreign ownership of stock exchange listed companies in Germany and the prevalence of military bases.

The hypothesis of total European subjugation is not explored beyond a few examples, focused mainly on Germany. The alliance of the Global North countries is, however, under increasing strain. The ramifications of the Trump administration’s policies are likely to extend well beyond one presidential term. Under these circumstances it is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of the European states, their imperialist interests, their neo-colonial relations, and their foreign policy agenda.

At the Zetkin Forum, we are building a working group of researchers to explore these questions. Our approach is built around 6 steps:

1. Discussion of the hyper-imperialism study with special attention to the open questions regarding Europe
2. Inputs and hypotheses for specific European states
3. Formulating empirically testable hypotheses
4. Collecting and analysing concrete data with the help of GSI
5. Organizing conferences to advance the debate
6. Producing publications on the topic