The concept of imperialism basically designates the existence of relatively concentrated authority and rule and is diffused over broad territorial contours. In modern times, it has more specifically come to denote a type of political system through which one state has extended its rule over other states, mostly territorially noncontiguous ones, without entirely incorporating them into a framework of common political symbols and identity. It thus refers essentially to attempts to establish formal sovereignty over subordinate political societies, but is also often equated with the exercise of any form of political control or influence by one political community over another.
Imperialism has become part of a propaganda battle. In communist terminology, the word remains restricted to the policies of the West, in particular the USA; whereas Western authors have sought to identify communist policies with 'the new imperialism'. Writers in the developing countries have made the word interchangeable with 'neocolonialism'; others have extended the term to refer to the economic, political, and military policies of all industrialized states, including the former Soviet Union, or of the white race as such, or even of any unsympathetic foreign state.
Imperialism continues to oppress many nations and presents a constant threat to peace and social progress.
Imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism, for it is the domination of the monopolies that constitutes its economic essence. Under imperialism the concentration of production and capital leads to the formation of monopolies, which take hold of the main resources of a society and take advantage of their supremacy to intensify their exploitation of the proletariat, enriching themselves at the expense of millions of common commodity producers and establishing their control over numerous small and middle entrepreneurs, thus reaping high monopoly profits.
The various political, financial, economic, technical and cultural activities of one state in another may aim only at the creation of sympathy, friendship, or influence. Also, the term 'imperialism' has lost its historical connotation and has become a theoretical concept, differently defined in the context of specific theoretical system. It has been blunted by over-frequent, emotional usage; but the resulting vagueness has not diminished its potency as one of the most powerful slogans of our time, used indiscriminately against any state, or even any group, regarded as inimical to a speaker's interest.