May 10, 2006
Imperialists and Anti-Imperialists in History
Geoffrey Wheatcroft reminds his readers that many progressives and leftists, including Karl Marx, have long supported imperialism.
And just as the left was split, so were (and are) classical liberals. Consider, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville who supported French colonization of Algeria. For more see Jennifer Pitts' edition of Tocqueville's writings on empire and slavery.
For Enlightenment thinkers against empire, see Sankar Muthu's Enlightenment Against Empire that describes the anti-imperialist political philosophies of an age often regarded as affirming imperial ambitions. Muthu discusses at length the anti-imperialism of Denis Diderot, Immanuel Kant, and Johann Gottfried Herder.
Footnote: Muthu and Pitts are husband and wife. Both teach in the Politics Department at Princeton University.
And just as the left was split, so were (and are) classical liberals. Consider, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville who supported French colonization of Algeria. For more see Jennifer Pitts' edition of Tocqueville's writings on empire and slavery.
For Enlightenment thinkers against empire, see Sankar Muthu's Enlightenment Against Empire that describes the anti-imperialist political philosophies of an age often regarded as affirming imperial ambitions. Muthu discusses at length the anti-imperialism of Denis Diderot, Immanuel Kant, and Johann Gottfried Herder.
Footnote: Muthu and Pitts are husband and wife. Both teach in the Politics Department at Princeton University.