Critics of Empire

The notion of 'empire' has been at the forefront of world politics for over a century. Bernard Porter's landmark work traces the critical response to the British imperial project in the years leading up to World War I. Imperial adventures, including the intervention in Egypt and the Anglo-Boer War, together with the jingoistic clamour that surrounded them, attracted powerful hostility as well as support.Criticism of Empire is the subject of Porter's stimulating book. Long regarded as the classic account, the author has now added a substantial new Introduction. He demonstrates the power and influence of major critics such as J.A. Hobson - the acknowledged creator of the 'capitalist theory' of imperialism - E.D. Morel and Mary Kingsley and of organisations like the Congo Reform Association.Its themes are also highly important for the present day. With comparisons often made between 21st-century American (and British) foreign policy and 19th-20th century imperialism, it is clear that the rhetoric surrounding the two events was closely similar. Indeed, most of the arguments found both for and against American 'empire' today were uncannily anticipated in the great debate over empire that took place a hundred years ago. It is this that makes this book more relevant now than it has ever been.