Saturday, July 26, 2003
The sun never sets on writing about the British empire
Close on the heels of Niall Ferguson's book on the British empire and the lessons it offers to American empire, comes yet another book on a similar topic by Columbia University professor, Simon Schama. "A History of Britain: The Fate of Empire 1776-2000" is reviewed by Fareed Zakaria in today's New York Times. I haven't read the book yet, but the review itself was worth reading.
The reality that Schama does not dwell on, however, is Britain's complex legacy. A vast majority of third-world democracies today are former British colonies. Despite the undeniable cruelties and hypocrisies of British imperialism, it brought organization, institutions and Enlightenment ideas to some of its colonies. (Not all; Orwell was right about Burma.) In the end, Britain's failure was that it could never keep faith in its liberal ideals, succumbing instead to the petty arrogance of race and national might. America is a different country, of course -- less fascinated by empire -- but in one important respect it faces the same paradox as Britain. No matter how compelling America's ideals, they still come wrapped in American power. People abroad may love the former but they are inevitably suspicious of the latter. And if America falters in its application of its ideals, people around the world will believe that they are simply a smoke screen for its power. Call it the fate of empire.
The reality that Schama does not dwell on, however, is Britain's complex legacy. A vast majority of third-world democracies today are former British colonies. Despite the undeniable cruelties and hypocrisies of British imperialism, it brought organization, institutions and Enlightenment ideas to some of its colonies. (Not all; Orwell was right about Burma.) In the end, Britain's failure was that it could never keep faith in its liberal ideals, succumbing instead to the petty arrogance of race and national might. America is a different country, of course -- less fascinated by empire -- but in one important respect it faces the same paradox as Britain. No matter how compelling America's ideals, they still come wrapped in American power. People abroad may love the former but they are inevitably suspicious of the latter. And if America falters in its application of its ideals, people around the world will believe that they are simply a smoke screen for its power. Call it the fate of empire.
