11. Do Capitalists Fund Revolutions? Michael Barker
To date capitalists have financially supported two types of revolution: they have funded the neoliberal revolution to “take the risk out of democracy”,1 and they have supported/hijacked popular revolutions (or in some cases manufactured ‘revolutions’) in countries of geostrategic importance (i.e. in counties where regime change is beneficial to transnational capitalism).2 The former neoliberal revolution has, of course, been funded by a hoard of right wing philanthropists intent on neutralising progressive forces within society, while the latter ‘democratic revolutions’ are funded by an assortment of ‘bipartisan’ quasi-nongovernmental organizations, like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and private institutions like George Soros’ Open Society Institute. The underlying mechanisms by which capitalists hijack popular revolutions have been outlined in William I. Robinson’s seminal book, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony (1996), which examines elite interventions in four countries - Chile, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Haiti.3 Robinson hypothesized that as a result of the public backlash (in the 1970s) against the US government’s repressive and covert foreign policies, foreign policy making elites elected to put a greater emphasis on overt means of overthrowing ‘problematic’ governments through the strategic manipulation of civil society. In 1984,
This article was first published in two parts on Znet, 4 and 9 September 2007. Part One <http://www.zcommunications.org/do-capitalists-fund-revolutionspart-1-of-2-by-michael-barker> Part Two <http://www.zcommunications.org/do-capitalists-fund-revolutionsby-michael-barker>