“Empire” and “imperialism”. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in the International debate

Abstract

The notion of “empire” in Hardt and Negri’s political theory indicates a new postmodern sovereignty, able to lead the capital accumulation in the global market era. With the concept of “empire”, Hardt and Negri want to overtake the imperialism doctrines, considered by the two authors unable to understand correctly the global world. The aim of this essay is to clarify the conceptual contraposition between “empire” and “imperialism” offering a brief description of the international debate raised by the publication of “Empire” by Hardt and Negri, in order to present the different positions and describe strengths, contradictions and aporias.