Prospects for democratic governance are definitely connected with the dynamics of hegemonic statecraft. For instance, it is notable, as Eqbal Ahmad has pointed out, that fascism flourished in the interwar period precisely in those states among the capitalist industrial powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) that had been substantially excluded from the imperial game of colonizing non-Western peoples and expropriating their raw materials. It is also notable that hegemonic leaders of the day “provoked” a lethal rivalry for colonial spoils that eventuated in general war.

In our own era there is an apparent link between postcolonial hegemonic tactics and antidemocratic interventionary diplomacy, part of an overall plan to make the world as safe as possible for multinational corporations and banks. Capital flows depend upon stable political environments that offer rewards by way of profits, and stable political environments can only be achieved, given mass discontent and mobilization rampant in the Third World, by institutionalizing repression.