Return to the empire.. the emergence of imperial liberalism in Britain and France

This book was published in 2005 by Princeton University and won the "One Choice" award as one of the best exceptional academic titles of 2005. It was subsequently selected by the American Political Science Association for the first book award in 2006, and received widespread reviews and endorsements, including from the historian of the ideological origins of the British Empire, David Armitage, and Harvard colleague Cheleary Welch, who is concerned with the French Empire associated with Tocqueville, one of the scholars the author studied. In "Return to Empire," Bates depicts the transformation of liberal ideas in Europe; specifically in Britain and France in the 19th century, from a skeptical stance towards imperial expansion to supporting it. Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham criticized imperialist thought as unjust and oppressive towards the conquered peoples politically and economically, but by the mid-19th century, most of the icons of liberal thought in Britain and France had become enthusiastic and even fanatical supporters of European conquest and its justification. This is evident in John Stuart Mill, as well as in his racist views regarding colonial India and much of his writings. In France, Alexis de Tocqueville stands out, who approved of the French invasion of Algeria as a "political experiment that could boost the confidence and joy of the weak French public." The author believes that European elites suffered from an inflated confidence in their civilizational superiority and arrogance towards what is not "Western European." Eastern Europe and other nations are "not mature," and manifestations of cultural superiority have extended from intolerance towards other cultures to fears that democracy might threaten Europe itself. Tocqueville openly and influentially expressed the fear that spreading democratic political and social culture might lead to the abandonment of other values, including, most importantly, freedom, which he believed to be aristocratic in nature and difficult to replicate under conditions of equality. This book consists of eight chapters in which Bates, in a satirical critical style, discusses the opinions and ideas of some of the most prominent thinkers. According to Princeton, this book is a narrative assessment of modern political thought, international justice, and a perspective on ongoing debates about empire, colonization, intervention, and political commitments.