Venezuela and the Misuse of the Word Imperialism

The word imperialism gets thrown around casually, but it has a very specific meaning. It describes a system in which an outside power rules a population that never chose it and has no ability to remove it. That was the structure of Rome governing Jerusalem. A foreign authority made the laws, controlled political outcomes, and denied the local population any real sovereignty.

That is not the situation people describe when they talk about external action against Venezuela. When a government has lost democratic legitimacy, when it no longer represents the will of its own citizens, and when it blocks them from choosing their leaders or shaping their own future, the absence of sovereignty already exists before any foreign actor arrives. Removing an unelected regime does not impose foreign rule. It restores the political space for the population to exercise the sovereignty that was taken from them.

Calling that imperialism misunderstands the concept. Imperialism is the domination of a people by a power they did not select. A transition that returns decision-making to the citizens is the opposite. It is a move toward national self-determination rather than away from it.

2 comments