The three leashes of empire

Sep 09, 2026 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

(Kaieteur News) – Empire, in its modern form, seldom arrives wearing a military uniform. It comes dressed instead as an investment banker, carrying a development plan, or as the representative of a multinational corporation bearing gifts in the language of progress.

The empire does not always need soldiers to occupy a country. It can arrange for the country to occupy itself with the repayment of its debts, the protection of foreign investments, and the preservation of a political class that understands which side of the table holds the cheque book. There are at least three principal leashes by which powerful imperial countries, particularly the United States, have historically exercised influence over smaller states. The first is economic dependency, dressed in the respectable vocabulary of neoliberalism.