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A dramatic shift in British and French ideas about empire unfolded in the sixty years straddling the turn of the nineteenth century. As Jennifer Pitts shows in A Turn to Empire, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Jeremy Bentham were among many at the start of this period to criticize European empires as unjust as well as politically and economically disastrous for the conquering nations. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the most prominent British and French liberal thinkers, including John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville, vigorously supported the conquest of non-European peoples. Pitts explains that this reflected a rise in civilizational self-confidence, as theories of human progress became more triumphalist, less nuanced, and less tolerant of cultural difference. At the same time, imperial expansion abroad came to be seen as a political project that might assist the emergence of stable liberal democracies within Europe. Pitts shows that liberal thinkers usually celebrated for respecting not only human equality and liberty but also pluralism supported an inegalitarian and decidedly nonhumanitarian international politics. Yet such moments represent not a necessary feature of liberal thought but a striking departure from views shared by precisely those late-eighteenth-century thinkers whom Mill and Tocqueville saw as their forebears. Fluently written, A Turn to Empire offers a novel assessment of modern political thought and international justice, and an illuminating perspective on continuing debates over empire, intervention, and liberal political commitments.
We take liberalism to be a set of ideas committed to political rights and self-determination, yet it also served to justify an empire built on political domination. Uday Mehta argues that imperialism, far from contradicting liberal tenets, in fact stemmed from liberal assumptions about reason and historical progress. Confronted with unfamiliar cultures such as India, British liberals could only see them as backward or infantile. In this, liberals manifested a narrow conception of human experience and ways of being in the world. Ironically, it is in the conservative Edmund Burke—a severe critic of Britain's arrogant, paternalistic colonial expansion—that Mehta finds an alternative and more capacious liberal vision. Shedding light on a fundamental tension in liberal theory, Liberalism and Empire reaches beyond post-colonial studies to revise our conception of the grand liberal tradition and the conception of experience with which it is associated.
Rise of the Liberal Empire takes readers on an in-depth journey through the history, growth, and modern dominance of liberal ideology in America, critically analyzing how progressive policies have fundamentally altered the social, political, and economic fabric of the country. With a sharp conservative lens, the book explores how the erosion of traditional values, rampant government overreach, and the weakening of the nuclear family have contributed to what many view as the inevitable decline of the United States under liberal governance. A Historical Overview In the opening chapters, we explore the roots of liberalism in American politics, tracing its origins to the early 20th century. This era witnessed the seeds of progressivism being planted through policies that aimed to challenge economic inequality and push for social justice, ultimately laying the groundwork for future liberal movements. The expansion of these ideas during the New Deal era under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later, the sweeping social changes of the 1960s key milestones in the liberal agenda’s march toward dominance. Liberalism’s Expansion and Entrenchment The book then shifts focus to the growth and entrenchment of liberalism in modern America, particularly during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Clinton and Obama administrations serve as case studies in how liberal policies were institutionalized, from expanding the welfare state to enacting regulations that stifled business growth. We dive into how these policies, while often cloaked in the language of fairness and equality, have created unintended economic consequences, from stagnant wages to ballooning national debt, leaving the average American family struggling to get by. The Economics of Entitlement A crucial part of the book delves into the economics of entitlement, highlighting how liberal policies have created an unsustainable dependency on government programs. From welfare to healthcare, the expansion of social safety nets has fostered a culture of dependency while sapping individual initiative. In this section, the book critiques the liberal push for income redistribution and the inherent inefficiencies of government-run programs, arguing that these policies discourage personal responsibility and create long-term social and economic harm. The Progressive Assault on Freedom Progressivism’s steady assault on personal freedoms is another key theme throughout the book. We explore how liberal efforts to enforce political correctness, promote identity politics, and legislate behavior have increasingly infringed on free speech and individual liberties. From college campuses to corporate boardrooms, progressive ideology has reshaped the cultural landscape, often silencing dissenting voices in the name of tolerance and inclusion. This section highlights the dangerous implications of allowing progressive dogma to dictate policy and public discourse, ultimately threatening the bedrock principles of freedom upon which America was founded. The Fragmentation of Society and Erosion of the Family Perhaps one of the most alarming trends addressed in *Rise of the Liberal Empire* is the fragmentation of American society, driven in large part by liberal policies that have eroded traditional institutions like the nuclear family. The book argues that the weakening of the family unit, accelerated by welfare programs that disincentivize marriage and stable two-parent households, has led to a host of societal problems, from rising crime rates to increased poverty and educational underachievement. The assault on traditional gender roles and the promotion of alternative family structures have further destabilized the foundation of society, creating a generation disconnected from the values that once united Americans. The Climate Change Agenda and Its Consequences The book also tackles one of the left’s most prominent crusades—climate change. While environmental protection is undeniably important, Rise of the Liberal Empire argues that liberal climate policies are often rooted in alarmism and result in economically disastrous decisions. This chapter examines the impact of sweeping regulations, government subsidies for green technologies, and international climate accords, which disproportionately hurt working-class Americans while doing little to actually curb global carbon emissions. The push for climate action, the book suggests, has become more about control than conservation, aligning with broader liberal goals of government expansion. The Decline of American Values The decline of traditional American values—personal responsibility, hard work, patriotism, and individual freedom—is explored as the inevitable outcome of decades of liberal cultural dominance. In this section, the book examines how media, Hollywood, academia, and even public schools have become vehicles for progressive propaganda, reshaping public perception and eroding the national character. From the vilification of American history to the celebration of victimhood culture, this ideological shift threatens to unravel the societal bonds that once held the country together. The Liberal Monopoly on the Political Landscape The final chapters address how the liberal monopoly on the media, big tech, and academia has shaped the political landscape, stifling conservative viewpoints and pushing the country further to the left. The book critiques the power of tech giants like Google and Facebook, which are increasingly accused of censoring conservative voices, and the mainstream media’s role in promoting liberal narratives while downplaying conservative perspectives. Additionally, the bureaucratic deep state is explored as an entrenched liberal force that continues to push progressive policies regardless of who occupies the White House. The Path Forward: Resisting the Liberal Onslaught In its concluding sections, Rise of the Liberal Empire doesn’t just dwell on the problems but offers a path forward. Conservatives are called upon to fight back against the cultural and political tide, advocating for policies that restore traditional values, promote economic freedom, and protect individual liberties. The book emphasizes the importance of grassroots activism, re-engaging with local politics, and taking back control of cultural institutions. It calls for conservatives to provide real solutions to the problems liberalism has created, rather than simply opposing progressive policies. Ultimately, Rise of the Liberal Empire is a wake-up call for conservatives and those concerned with the direction of America under progressive rule. It’s a rallying cry for the restoration of a free, prosperous, and morally grounded n ation—before it’s too late.
While the need for a history of liberalism that goes beyond its conventional European limits is well recognized, the agrarian backwaters of the British Empire might seem an unlikely place to start. Yet specifically liberal preoccupations with property and freedom evolved as central to agrarian policy and politics in colonial Bengal.Ê Liberalism in Empire explores the generative crisis in understanding propertyÕs role in the constitution of a liberal polity, which intersected in Bengal with a new politics of peasant independence based on practices of commodity exchange. Thus the conditions for a new kind of vernacular liberalism were created. Andrew SartoriÕs examination shows the workings of a section of liberal policy makers and agrarian leaders who insisted that norms governing agrarian social relations be premised on the property-constituting powers of labor, which opened a new conceptual space for appeals to both political economy and the normative significance of property. It is conventional to see liberalism as traveling through the space of empire with the extension of colonial institutions and intellectual networks. SartoriÕs focus on the Lockeanism of agrarian discourses of property, however, allows readers to grasp how liberalism could serve as a normative framework for both a triumphant colonial capitalism and a critique of capitalism from the standpoint of peasant property.
This book argues that there is an important connection between ethical resistance to British imperialism and the ethical discovery of gay rights. It examines the roots of liberal resistance in Britain and resistance to patriarchy in the USA, showing the importance of fighting the demands of patriarchal manhood and womanhood to countering imperialism. Advocates of feminism and gay rights are key because they resist the gender binary's role in rationalizing sexism and homophobia. The connection between the rise of gay rights and the fall of empire illuminates questions of the meaning of democracy and universal human rights as shared human values that have appeared since World War II. The book casts doubt on the thesis that arguments for gay rights must be extrinsic to democracy and reflect Western values. To the contrary, gay rights arise from within liberal democracy, and its critics polemically use such opposition to cover and rationalize their own failures of democracy.
A leading scholar of British political thought explores the relationship between liberalism and empire Reordering the World is a penetrating account of the complexity and contradictions found in liberal visions of empire. Focusing mainly on nineteenth-century Britain—at the time the largest empire in history and a key incubator of liberal political thought—Duncan Bell sheds new light on some of the most important themes in modern imperial ideology. The book ranges widely across Victorian intellectual life and beyond. The opening essays explore the nature of liberalism, varieties of imperial ideology, the uses and abuses of ancient history, the imaginative functions of the monarchy, and fantasies of Anglo-Saxon global domination. They are followed by illuminating studies of prominent thinkers, including J. A. Hobson, L. T. Hobhouse, John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, Herbert Spencer, and J. R. Seeley. While insisting that liberal attitudes to empire were multiple and varied, Bell emphasizes the liberal fascination with settler colonialism. It was in the settler empire that many liberal imperialists found the place of their political dreams. Reordering the World is a significant contribution to the history of modern political thought and political theory.
In an age of demagogues, hostile great powers and trade wars, foreign policy traditionalists dream of restoring liberal international order. This order, they claim, ushered in seventy years of peace and prosperity and saw post-war America domesticate the world to its values. The False Promise of Liberal Order exposes the flaws in this nostalgic vision. The world shaped by America came about as a result of coercion and, sometimes brutal, compromise. Liberal projects – to spread capitalist democracy – led inadvertently to illiberal results. To make peace, America made bargains with authoritarian forces. Even in the Pax Americana, the gentlest order yet, ordering was rough work. As its power grew, Washington came to believe that its order was exceptional and even permanent – a mentality that has led to spiralling deficits, permanent war and Trump. Romanticizing the liberal order makes it harder to adjust to today’s global disorder. Only by confronting the false promise of liberal order and adapting to current realities can the United States survive as a constitutional republic in a plural world.
Niall Ferguson's acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain's empire 'A remarkably readable précis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all' Jan Morris Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity. 'The most brilliant British historian of his generation ... Ferguson examines the roles of "pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts" in the creation of history's largest empire ... he writes with splendid panache ... and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit' Andrew Roberts 'Dazzling ... wonderfully readable' New York Review of Books 'Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence' Sunday Times
In the second half of the twentieth century, the United States engaged in the most ambitious and far-reaching liberal order building the world had yet seen. This liberal international order has been one of the most successful in providing security and prosperity to more people, but in the last decade the American-led order has been troubled. Some argue that the Bush administration undermined it. Others argue that we are witnessing he end of the American era. In Liberal Leviathan G. John Ikenberry argues that the crisis that besets the American-led order is a crisis of authority. The forces that have triggered this crisis have resulted from the successful functioning and expansion of the postwar liberal order, not its breakdown.
One of the world's leading historians examines the great Indian liberal tradition, stretching from Rammohan Roy in the 1820s, through Dadabhai Naoroji in the 1880s to G. K. Gokhale in the 1900s. This powerful new study shows how the ideas of constitutional, and later 'communitarian' liberals influenced, but were also rejected by their opponents and successors, including Nehru, Gandhi, Indian socialists, radical democrats and proponents of Hindu nationalism. Equally, Recovering Liberties contributes to the rapidly developing field of global intellectual history, demonstrating that the ideas we associate with major Western thinkers – Mills, Comte, Spencer and Marx – were received and transformed by Indian intellectuals in the light of their own traditions to demand justice, racial equality and political representation. In doing so, Christopher Bayly throws fresh light on the nature and limitations of European political thought and re-examines the origins of Indian democracy.