Author Description
By the mid-nineteenth century, Britain celebrated its possession of a unique "empire of liberty" that propagated the rule of private property, free trade, and free labor across the globe. The British also knew that their empire had been built by conquering overseas territories, trading slaves, and extorting tribute from other societies. Set in the context of the early-modern British Empire, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism paints a striking picture of these tensions between the illiberal origins of capitalism and its liberal imaginations in metropolitan thought.Onur Ulas Ince combines an analysis of political economy and political theory to examine the impact of colonial economic relations on the development of liberal thought in Britain. He shows how a liberal self-image for the British Empire was constructed in the face of the systematic expropriation, exploitation, and servitude that built its transoceanic capitalist economy. The resilience of Britain's self-image was due in large part to the liberal intellectuals of empire, such as John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and their efforts to disavow the violent transformations that propelled British colonial capitalism. Ince forcefully demonstrates that liberalism as a language of politics was elaborated in and through the political economic debates around the contested meanings of private property, market exchange, and free labor.Weaving together intellectual history, critical theory, and colonial studies, this book is a bold attempt to reconceptualize the historical relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in a way that continues to resonate with our present moment.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the fundamental tension between the violent, illiberal origins of the British Empire and the development of liberal political thought in the metropolitan center. Onur Ulas Ince, a scholar of political theory and history, utilizes a framework that bridges political economy and intellectual history to analyze how British thinkers reconciled the expropriation and exploitation inherent in colonial capitalism with the rhetoric of free trade and private property. By examining the works of figures such as John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Ince argues that liberal ideology was not merely a domestic product but was actively constructed through the debates surrounding the management of colonial economic relations.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the political economic foundations of the early-modern British Empire.
- Examination of the intellectual contributions of John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
- A critical framework linking colonial expropriation to the evolution of liberal political language.
- Synthesis of intellectual history, critical theory, and colonial studies.
Scope Limits
- The analysis is primarily focused on the British imperial context rather than a comparative study of other colonial powers.
- The text prioritizes the development of liberal thought over a comprehensive economic history of all British colonies.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars in the fields of political theory and post-colonial studies frequently cite this work for its rigorous integration of economic history with the history of ideas. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for an audience familiar with critical theory and historical analysis.
Page Count:
232
Publication Date:
2018-04-13
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190637293
ISBN-13:
9780190637293
History
Economics
Political Theory
British Empire
Great Britain
Comparative Government
Liberalism
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