The imperial security state : British colonial knowledge and empire-building in Asia / James Hevia, University of Chicago.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hevia, James Louis, 1947- author.

Series:

Critical perspectives on empire.

Critical perspectives on empire

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Army. British Indian Army--History--Sources.

Great Britain.

Military intelligence--Great Britain--History.

Military intelligence.

Military intelligence--Asia--History.

National security--Great Britain--History.

National security.

Internal security--Asia--History.

Internal security.

Imperialism--History.

Imperialism.

Great Britain--Colonies--Asia.

Asia--Colonial influence.

Asia.

Great Britain--Military policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 304 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Imperial Security State explores an important but under-explored dimension of British imperialism - its information system and the close links between military knowledge and the maintenance of empire. James Hevia's innovative study focuses on route books and military reports produced by the British Indian Army military intelligence between 1880 and 1940. He shows that together these formed a renewable and authoritative archive that was used to train intelligence officers, to inform civilian policy makers and to provide vital information to commanders as they approached the battlefield. The strategic, geographical, political and ethnographical knowledge that was gathered not only framed imperial strategies towards colonized areas to the east but also produced the very object of intervention: Asia itself. Finally, the book addresses the long-term impact of the security regime, revealing how elements of British colonial knowledge have continued to influence contemporary tactics of counterinsurgency in twenty-first-century Iraq and Afghanistan.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. The military revolution of the nineteenth century

3. Imperial state formation, the professionalization of the army, and the making of experts

4. Forming intelligence, making an archive

5. Disciplining the space of Asia: triangulation and route books

6. Regulating the facts of Asia: military reports and handbooks

7. The uses of intelligence

8. The effects of the imperial security regime in Asia and Great Britain

9. Imperial security and the transformation of Asia.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-22626-0

1-139-50794-X

1-280-77391-X

9786613684684

1-139-51751-1

1-139-51493-8

1-139-04729-9

1-139-51401-6

1-139-51658-2

1-139-51844-5

OCLC:

796383849