Empires without imperialism : Anglo-American decline and the politics of deflection / Jeanne Morefield.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morefield, Jeanne, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberalism--Great Britain--History.

Liberalism.

Liberalism--United States--History.

History.

United States.

Great Britain--Colonies--History.

Great Britain.

Colonies.

United States--Colonies--History.

Imperialism.

Physical Description:

x, 288 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

For Over Two centuries, liberal apologists for empire in Britain and America have been plagued by the contradictions between political liberalism and the anti-democratic and violent practices of imperialism-contradictions that become most obvious during periods of perceived imperial crisis. This book interrogates the rhetoric of several pro-imperial public intellectuals from both the late British Empire and contemporary America, two eras marked by intense anxiety about decline. It argues that these thinkers square the circle between liberalism and empire through narrative strategies that deflect attention away from state violence and toward the supposedly eternal qualities of "who we are": the professedly liberal peoples of Britain and America. From Jan Smuts and Alfred Zimmern to Niall Ferguson and Michael Ignatieff's, the thinkers examined here are at once nostalgic and forgetful, describing Britain and America as empires without imperialism. In the process, these public intellectuals treat the imperial state as a victim of its own success, while positing more and better empire as the only solution to the problems created by imperial violence. The book counters this strategy of deflection by calling for a radical politics of reflection, a politics that responds to empire not by insisting, "This is who we are!" but rather by asking, "Is this who we want to be?" Book jacket.

Contents:

Alfred Zimmern's "Oxford paradox" : displacement and Athenian nostalgia

Falling in love with Athens : Donald Kagan on America and Thucydides' revisionism

The Round Table's story of commonwealth

The empire whisperer : Niall Ferguson's misdirection, disavowal and the perilousness of neoliberal time

Empire's handyman : Jan Smuts and the politics of international holism

Michael Ignatieff's tragedy : just as we are, here and now

Conclusion : conceptual horizons and conditions of possibility : is this the Swaraj that we want?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-278) and index.

ISBN:

9780199844104

0199844100

9780199387328

019938732X

OCLC:

868042473