Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Globalization imperially fractured
- 3 America and its empire in the Progressive Era, 1890–1930
- 4 Asian empires
- 5 Half-global crisis
- 6 Explaining revolutions
- 7 A half-global crisis
- 8 The new deal
- 9 The development of social citizenship in capitalist democracies
- 10 The Fascist alternative, 1918–1945
- 11 The Soviet alternative, 1918–1945
- 12 Japanese imperialism, 1930–1945
- 13 Explaining the Chinese revolution
- 14 The last interimperial war, 1939–1945
- 15 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Globalization imperially fractured
The British Empire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Globalization imperially fractured
- 3 America and its empire in the Progressive Era, 1890–1930
- 4 Asian empires
- 5 Half-global crisis
- 6 Explaining revolutions
- 7 A half-global crisis
- 8 The new deal
- 9 The development of social citizenship in capitalist democracies
- 10 The Fascist alternative, 1918–1945
- 11 The Soviet alternative, 1918–1945
- 12 Japanese imperialism, 1930–1945
- 13 Explaining the Chinese revolution
- 14 The last interimperial war, 1939–1945
- 15 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction: Types of empire
Empires have provided the most dominant type of rule across the large-scale societies of history. This is because social groups can attain many of their goals by expansion through force of arms. In a sense, empires need no further explanation. They help the more powerful groups achieve goals that humans generally desire, and so they have been ubiquitous through history – at least until war became too destructive to achieve such desired goals. Because Europeans were greatly increasing their powers in the early modern world, they naturally sought to conquer the world, as they were heavily armed and driven by both material and ideal interests. Imperialism has been a core feature of modernity.
Our modern English word “empire” derives from the Latin imperium, “the power wielded by a general commanding an army and a magistrate armed with the law” – that is, a combined political and military power. Modern usages add a geographical element – power exercised over peripheral regions by a core power. I define an empire as a centralized, hierarchical system of rule acquired and maintained by coercion through which a core territory dominates peripheral territories, serves as the intermediary for their main interactions, and channels resources from and between the peripheries.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Sources of Social Power , pp. 17 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012