# Erik Prince — "put the imperial hat back on" > [!quote] "If so many of these countries around the world are incapable of governing themselves, it's time for us to just put the imperial hat back on… You can say that about pretty much all of Africa, they're incapable of governing themselves." > — Erik Prince, "Off Leash" podcast, February 2024 ## Context [[Erik Prince]] — founder of the mercenary firm [[Blackwater]], whose contractors carried out the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad — said this on his "Off Leash" podcast in early 2024. Asked directly whether he was endorsing colonialism, Prince answered "Absolutely, yes," and extended the claim to Latin America as well as Africa. The remarks came as Prince was pitching mercenary services to governments across the Global South. ## Why this matters This is open, unembarrassed advocacy for recolonization from a man who has spent two decades selling privatized military force — and who has been floated for senior U.S. defense roles. Where the defense-tech founders in this cluster valorize the violence of their products, Prince valorizes the political project the violence serves: direct foreign rule justified by the claim that entire continents are racially or culturally incapable of self-government. It is the imperial premise stated plainly, and it connects the mercenary-for-hire business model to the [[Might Makes Right Doctrine]] running through the contemporary right. ## Verification - **Reporting:** [The Intercept, February 10, 2024](https://theintercept.com/2024/02/10/erik-prince-off-leash-imperialism-colonialism/); [Al Mayadeen](https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/blackwater-founder-calls-on-us-to-colonize-africa--latin-ame). - **Status:** Verbatim, undisputed; said on Prince's own podcast. ## Related quotes - See the [[Might Makes Right Doctrine]] collection — power as its own justification. - [[Palmer Luckey - world police to world gun store]] — the defense-tech version of remaking the U.S. global role.