Imperial Sceptics

British Critics of Empire, 1850-1920
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-521-19954-4
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 97, 456 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 666 g

Reihe: Ideas in Context

Imperial Sceptics provides a highly original analysis of the emergence of opposition to the British Empire from 1850-1920. Departing from existing accounts, which have focused upon the Boer War and the writings of John Hobson, Gregory Claeys proposes a new chronology for the contours of resistance to imperial expansion. Claeys locates the impetus for such opposition in the late 1850s with the British followers of Auguste Comte. Tracing critical strands of anti-imperial thought through to the First World War, Claeys then scrutinises the full spectrum of socialist writings from the early 1880s onwards, revealing a fundamental division over whether a new conception of 'socialist imperialism' could appeal to the electorate and satisfy economic demands. Based upon extensive archival research, and utilising rare printed sources, Imperial Sceptics will prove a major contribution to our understanding of nineteenth-century political thought, shedding new light on theories of nationalism, patriotism, the state and religion.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Claeys, Gregory

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Kolonialismus, Imperialismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: audi alteram partem: imperialism and the moral imagination; 1. Positivist diplomacy; 2. Socialism and empire: from Little England to Socialist Commonwealth 1850-1920; 3. Contextualising Hobson: civilisation, utility and socialist imperialism; Conclusion: the fruits of imperial scepticism.

Über Autor(innen)

Claeys, Gregory
Gregory Claeys is Professor of the History of Political Thought at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has edited numerous works including Modern British Utopias. c.1700-1850 (8 volumes, 1997), Restoration and Augustan British Utopias (2000), Late Victorian Utopias (6 volumes, 2008), and The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature (2010). Claeys has written several studies of aspects of the Owenite socialist movement, of the French revolution debate in Britain, and of Thomas Paine's thought.