Abstract
To test theories of economic imperialism by close historical study of colonial expansion in the late nineteenth century is a fundamental mistake. Lenin, Schumpeter, Luxemburg, Kautsky, and Hobson all argue that monopoly organization, protection, autocratic methods of government, and militarism are the inescapable companions of the use of state power to pursue economic objectives beyond the state frontier. Without this constellation of factors present, theories of imperialism do not obtain, and what is there is properly called colonialism. The unjustifiable extension of those theories - propounded between 1898 and 1919 for the specific purpose of explaining the behavior of developed nations in that era -to cover events long before and after that era has misdirected research.