tldr; unequal exchange, imperialism & "nations aren't real look at the actual economic conditions and one sees that the entire world is integrated into an America-Euro-(Japan ig lol) empire." Don't have the time to summarise books on mechanics, but if you want book recs i can give.
In terms of concrete, Zak Cope pointed out in one of his books that in 2009, the total surplus value transferred from the third world to the first world was 6.5 trillion dollars. Lots of it is stuff like Canada's "we own the mine and get 98% of the profit and you get the pollution and death" strategy, so the money appears to come from taxing Canadians. Another strategy is that employed by indonesian companies working for UNIQLO sell them clothes (this counts as indonesia's value added, tiny), and then UNIQLO marks them up and sells them (the markup becomes profit 'produced' by UNIQLO and is taxed by Japan). This value is redistributed through welfare, as well as less obvious things like "commodities are just really cheap golly i wonder why i can get coffee from south america anytime i want for less than 1 hours work". Based on what i know of the development of imperialism since Cope's book was published, I don't expect its gotten better (its gotten worse lol)
Thank you for bringing up unequal exchange and unaccounted for externalities, which are then profited off and redistributed by social democratic policies. This is a more sound/structural argument than "individual companies engage in exploitation, and they pay their taxes", which while true, doesn't show the whole dynamic of neocolonialism.
yeah, capitalism is really good at hiding its exploitation by making stuff appear less connected than it actually is (same sorta thing with wage labour ofc; each transaction viewed by itself appears free and equal)
Amin - Accumulation on a World Scale; A Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment (2 volumes)
Arghiri - Unequal Exchange; A Study of the Imperialism of Trade
Carroll & Sapinski - Organizing the 1%; How Corporate Power Works
Cope - Divided World, Divided Class; Global Political Economy and the Stratification of Labour Under Capitalism
de Leon - The Land of Open Graves; Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail
Engler - Canada in Africa; 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation
Engler - Stand on Guard for Whom; A People's History of the Canadian Military
Gordon & Webber - Blood of Extration; Canadian Imperialism in Latin America
Livingston - Self-Devouring Growth; A Planatary Parable as Told from Southern Africa
McKinney - How the US Creates 'Shithole' Countries
Mies - Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale; Women in the International Division of Labour
Patnaik & Moyo - Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry; the Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era
Prashad - The Poorer Nations; A Possible History of the Global South
Shipley - Canada in the World; Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination
Sobocinska - Saving the World; Western Volunteers and the Rise of the Humanitarian-Development Complex
Walia - Border and Rule; Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism
Bedford & Irving - The Tragedy of Progress; Marxism, Modernity and the Aboriginal Question
Mays - An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States
Mackey - Unsettled Expectations; Uncertainty, Land and Settler Decolonization
Adams - A Tortured People; The Politics of Colonization
Also settler-colonial theory is relevant to Sweden and Norway and Finland wrt Sami peoples. I haven't read anything by or about Sapmi specfically though, so can't suggest any readings there, but the last four recommendations above are works on the topic wrt other places and more generally. Norway of course also has the oil state aspect, which isnt exactly a politically neutral source of wealth but likely needs no further explanation.
edit: added Cope's book after re-reading and realising i forgot to add it
You need this book which explicitly addresses OP's objections: Riding the Wave: Sweden’s Integration into the Imperialist World System by Torkil Lauesen
tldr; unequal exchange, imperialism & "nations aren't real look at the actual economic conditions and one sees that the entire world is integrated into an America-Euro-(Japan ig lol) empire." Don't have the time to summarise books on mechanics, but if you want book recs i can give.
In terms of concrete, Zak Cope pointed out in one of his books that in 2009, the total surplus value transferred from the third world to the first world was 6.5 trillion dollars. Lots of it is stuff like Canada's "we own the mine and get 98% of the profit and you get the pollution and death" strategy, so the money appears to come from taxing Canadians. Another strategy is that employed by indonesian companies working for UNIQLO sell them clothes (this counts as indonesia's value added, tiny), and then UNIQLO marks them up and sells them (the markup becomes profit 'produced' by UNIQLO and is taxed by Japan). This value is redistributed through welfare, as well as less obvious things like "commodities are just really cheap golly i wonder why i can get coffee from south america anytime i want for less than 1 hours work". Based on what i know of the development of imperialism since Cope's book was published, I don't expect its gotten better (its gotten worse lol)
Thank you for bringing up unequal exchange and unaccounted for externalities, which are then profited off and redistributed by social democratic policies. This is a more sound/structural argument than "individual companies engage in exploitation, and they pay their taxes", which while true, doesn't show the whole dynamic of neocolonialism.
yeah, capitalism is really good at hiding its exploitation by making stuff appear less connected than it actually is (same sorta thing with wage labour ofc; each transaction viewed by itself appears free and equal)
deleted by creator
Yeah here you go always happy to share books
Amin - Accumulation on a World Scale; A Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment (2 volumes)
Arghiri - Unequal Exchange; A Study of the Imperialism of Trade
Carroll & Sapinski - Organizing the 1%; How Corporate Power Works
Cope - Divided World, Divided Class; Global Political Economy and the Stratification of Labour Under Capitalism
de Leon - The Land of Open Graves; Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail
Engler - Canada in Africa; 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation
Engler - Stand on Guard for Whom; A People's History of the Canadian Military
Gordon & Webber - Blood of Extration; Canadian Imperialism in Latin America
Livingston - Self-Devouring Growth; A Planatary Parable as Told from Southern Africa
McKinney - How the US Creates 'Shithole' Countries
Mies - Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale; Women in the International Division of Labour
Patnaik & Moyo - Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry; the Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era
Prashad - The Poorer Nations; A Possible History of the Global South
Shipley - Canada in the World; Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination
Sobocinska - Saving the World; Western Volunteers and the Rise of the Humanitarian-Development Complex
Walia - Border and Rule; Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism
Bedford & Irving - The Tragedy of Progress; Marxism, Modernity and the Aboriginal Question
Mays - An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States
Mackey - Unsettled Expectations; Uncertainty, Land and Settler Decolonization
Adams - A Tortured People; The Politics of Colonization
Also settler-colonial theory is relevant to Sweden and Norway and Finland wrt Sami peoples. I haven't read anything by or about Sapmi specfically though, so can't suggest any readings there, but the last four recommendations above are works on the topic wrt other places and more generally. Norway of course also has the oil state aspect, which isnt exactly a politically neutral source of wealth but likely needs no further explanation.
edit: added Cope's book after re-reading and realising i forgot to add it
You need this book which explicitly addresses OP's objections: Riding the Wave: Sweden’s Integration into the Imperialist World System by Torkil Lauesen
thanks, i've added it to my list of books to read
deleted by creator