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Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the United States Shaped the Global Periphery
How did Western imperialism shape the developing world? In Imperialism and the Developing World, Atul Kohli tackles this question by analyzing British and American influence on Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America from the age of the British East India Company to the most recent U.S. war in Iraq. He argues that both Britain and the U.S. expanded to enhance their national economic prosperity, and shows how Anglo-American expansionism hurt economic development in poor parts of the world.
To clarify the causes and consequences of modern imperialism, Kohli first explains that there are two kinds of empires and analyzes the dynamics of both. Imperialism can refer to a formal, colonial empire such as Britain in the 19th century or an informal empire, wielding significant influence but not territorial control, such as the U.S. in the 20th century. Kohli contends that both have repeatedly undermined the prospects of steady economic progress in the global periphery, though to different degrees.
Time and again, the pursuit of their own national economic prosperity led Britain and the U.S. to expand into peripheral areas of the world. Limiting the sovereignty of other states-and poor and weak states on the periphery in particular-was the main method of imperialism. For the British and American empires, this tactic ensured that peripheral economies would stay open and accessible to Anglo-American economic interests. Loss of sovereignty, however, greatly hurt the life chances of people living in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. As Kohli lays bare, sovereignty is an economic asset; it is a precondition for the emergence of states that can foster prosperous and inclusive industrial societies.
To clarify the causes and consequences of modern imperialism, Kohli first explains that there are two kinds of empires and analyzes the dynamics of both. Imperialism can refer to a formal, colonial empire such as Britain in the 19th century or an informal empire, wielding significant influence but not territorial control, such as the U.S. in the 20th century. Kohli contends that both have repeatedly undermined the prospects of steady economic progress in the global periphery, though to different degrees.
Time and again, the pursuit of their own national economic prosperity led Britain and the U.S. to expand into peripheral areas of the world. Limiting the sovereignty of other states-and poor and weak states on the periphery in particular-was the main method of imperialism. For the British and American empires, this tactic ensured that peripheral economies would stay open and accessible to Anglo-American economic interests. Loss of sovereignty, however, greatly hurt the life chances of people living in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. As Kohli lays bare, sovereignty is an economic asset; it is a precondition for the emergence of states that can foster prosperous and inclusive industrial societies.
560 pages, Hardcover
Published January 31, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 11, 2024
Fantastic book and eye opening to what actually motivates empire: a search for profits abroad, by force, to secure markets and raw materials for own economic prosperity. Kohli explains the crucial and underappreciated point that political sovereignty is an economic asset, and that imperial hegemony therefore rests on undercutting sovereignty elsewhere in the world. He also does a wonderful job explaining the threads that tie "formal" versus "informal" empire (motivation, and negative effect on indigenous people) and the differences between the two (means of imperialism). 10/10 recommend, including for anyone seeking to understand the savagery of the US empire in the 21st century.
January 31, 2022
Thoughtful, punchy, and persuasive. Kohli presents to the world a few classic cases of Bristish and American imperialism, carefully examining the record and drawing parallels.
While I would have liked Kohli to have not held back so many punches, this is perhaps the inevitable result of having been swashed around in a conservative institution like Princeton for a few decades.
Still informative and insightful, Kohli delivers a work which will hopefully serve as a post-mortem of empire, to be read by distant generations.
While I would have liked Kohli to have not held back so many punches, this is perhaps the inevitable result of having been swashed around in a conservative institution like Princeton for a few decades.
Still informative and insightful, Kohli delivers a work which will hopefully serve as a post-mortem of empire, to be read by distant generations.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews