Relationship Between Capitalism And Empires

INTRODUCTION
The post-Second World War period has given rise to events that are significant to the understanding of the connection between capitalism and empires. Additionally, how this relationship influences not only the understanding of global history but also how they have shaped the outlook of society today. This essay will be comprised of two main sections, the first will introduce empires, capitalism and their relationship, as well as answer the question why is the period after 1945 significant. The second section will use three major events, including the social, economic, and political structures of both empires and capitalism lead to the fall of the Soviet Union, the Iraq War, and the Financial Crisis of 2008-2009.
PARA1
Empires
9). These empires would use the conquered people as slaves to harvest resources that could be transformed into goods for the empire (Class Notes, Jan 24). Although the empires of today don't often physically occupy land they still bring other societies into their empire but making weaker nations financially dependent on them and using that power to influence the political and economic environment. The reason that the empires seek to control these weaker nations is so that they can have access to cheap resources and labour which allows them to increase their profits and create new markets. Essentially they use the weaker nations people as wage slaves so that they can increase their bottom line (Fulcher, p. 83 - 84). The emergence of capitalism easily flowed from the structure of empires because of the development of the wealthy merchant class. When industrial production began two things were required, more resources, including labour, and a market to sell the product to. The merchants in this era had a lot of economic power that they used to influence political policy. As a result of the drive for increased profits, or people gaining the capitalist mentality (Class Notes, Feb 28), they wanted more profit and influenced the empire to seek out new places to colonize or open the borders for free trade. Similarly, capitalism today is controlled by the large corporations and they have massive amounts of control over government policy and therefore the direction of the empire on things like free trade. As presented in Laxer, the big corporations still have control over the economy and the power to influence public policy. In an example provided by Laxer, in 2004 Presidential candidates turned down federal funding of their campaigns because it would limit the amount that they would be able to spend. The large