A Turn to Empire

The Rise of Imperial Liberalism in Britain and France

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Political, History, European General
Cover of the book A Turn to Empire by Jennifer Pitts, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jennifer Pitts ISBN: 9781400826636
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: April 11, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Jennifer Pitts
ISBN: 9781400826636
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: April 11, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Boko Haram by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book The Praise of Folly by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Margins and Metropolis by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book From Higher Aims to Hired Hands by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Fugitive Democracy by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book When People Come First by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Liberal Languages by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Justice in Lüritz by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book The Leaderless Economy by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book An Enchanted Modern by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Southern Nation by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Enhancing Evolution by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Birds of Australia by Jennifer Pitts
Cover of the book Strategic Investment by Jennifer Pitts
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy