The roots of institutionalized Bonapartism in the epoch of mature capitalism

The understanding that economies are as manipulable as they are could only be drawn from and historically after the following human experiences:

1. The imperial state capitalist economies of Europe during the first and second world wars.

2.The rise of Bolshevism and the New Economic Policy period in the Soviet Union

3.The experience of the state monopoly socialism which characterized the post Stalin Soviet Union and the initial economic structure of the Peoples Republic of China as well as in varying degrees nation states such as, Vietnam,Cuba, Turkey and Egypt.

The power of the modern state formations to, by direct intervention,  influence and alter the course of economic development and the economic structure of society was proven over the course of the 20th century. At the same time the expansion of the global market for commodities, and the innovative power of entrepreneurship proved to be an irrepressible aspect of modern society.

In the epoch of mature capitalism the pressure placed upon the state to manipulate the market in varied directions by disparate political forces becomes the axis of political struggle between competing interests and most essentially between competing social classes. The fact that there is no pure market or natural center anymore (if arguably one ever existed), the constant tug of demand for resources, the demand for application of massed capital, the demand for provision of employment, the protection of rights and interests, the general contest for favors invariably weighted toward the privileged, and the fact that the working class as a potential social force now possesses greater–if unrealized-power than it has at any prior time in history  has resulted in the large nation states being governed by only somewhat nuanced forms of institutionalized Bonapartism. This 21st century institutionalized Bonapartism may exist on one side or another of a given contest but its existence is a constant.

In the United States the ‘two party system’ effectively allows the populace the dubious option to decide which new Napoleon will rule for the next 4 to 8 years.