Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal ThoughtWe 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. |
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Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 28 |
Section 3 | 29 |
Section 4 | 36 |
Section 5 | 46 |
Section 6 | 51 |
Section 7 | 62 |
Section 8 | 77 |
Section 14 | 153 |
Section 15 | 157 |
Section 16 | 166 |
Section 17 | 167 |
Section 18 | 169 |
Section 19 | 180 |
Section 20 | 183 |
Section 21 | 187 |
Section 9 | 104 |
Section 10 | 106 |
Section 11 | 115 |
Section 12 | 134 |
Section 13 | 144 |
Section 22 | 190 |
Section 23 | 201 |
Section 24 | 210 |
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Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal Thought Uday Singh Mehta No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
acknowledged argument associated basis become boundaries Britain British Burke Burke's called Cambridge century chapter civilization claim clear collective colonial commitment common conception concern consider considerations constitute context contrast course denied distinction effect empire example exclusion existence experience expression extended fact familiar feelings freedom give given ground human idea identity imagination imperial important India individual instance institutions issue James John knowledge language latter laws least liberal liberty limit lives Locke Locke's meaning Mill Mill's moral nature nineteenth century normative notion object origins particular perhaps philosophic political possible practices precisely present principle progress question rational reason reference Reflections regarding relations representative requires Second sense sentiments shared significance simply social society specific Speech suggest territory theoretical theory things thought tion tradition Treatise understanding unfamiliar University Press various writings York
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal Thought Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-century British Liberal Thought, Uday Singh Mehta |
| Author | Uday Singh Mehta |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press, 1999 |
| ISBN | 0226518825, 9780226518824 |
| Length | 237 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / Europe / Great Britain / General Philosophy / Political Political Science / General Political Science / History & Theory |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |