The Idea of Informal Empire

Abstract

The idea of informal empire is largely about the rationalization of the world and the responses that rationalization has produced. As this chapter illustrates, scholars, politicians, public intellectuals and others have handled with dexterity the idea of informal empire while never using the term or, in many cases, while utilizing a variety of terms or phrases to describe the same concept. It seemed inevitably bound up with the process of the European concept of the rule of law, the development of science, Enlightenment ideals and industrial and professional modernization. Applying these revolutions to human society outside of Europe, and establishing elite formations that reflected these developments, were integral to the process of building an imperial network.