For most Americans, the word "empire" has a distinctly bad odor. From an early age, Americans learn that the United States was a country that coalesced around the rejection of empire. That is, to put it mildly, a questionable interpretation of what happened, but regardless of historical accuracy, it's what many, many Americans believe to be true. Ever since independence, the United States has tended to define itself as anti-imperial. Even in World War II, when Americans were staunch allies of the British and French, the goals of the Roosevelt administration were anti-imperial. We Americans would help the Brits and the French repel the Nazis, but we would not countenance the continuance of direct British and French rule over their colonies in Africa and Asia.
Imperialism: Doing it right
Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, Niall Ferguson, Basic Books: 392 pp., $35
To be sure, there have been exceptions to anti-imperialism. The ardent promoters of 19th century Manifest Destiny spoke of an American empire spanning the North American continent, and at that century's end, men like Theodore Roosevelt were unabashedly in favor of acquiring colonies. But after a brutal war against Philippine insurgents at the turn of the 20th century, the United States lost its stomach for the more brutal and pedestrian aspects of running an empire. Conquest was one thing, but governing another people thousands of miles away, to even the more ardent American imperialists, was unpalatable.
The United States is in a similar quandary today: We are able to muster some enthusiasm for conquest but little for governing. We win wars; we lose occupations. This bothers Niall Ferguson, a respected, controversial British historian and commentator. It bothers him not because he considers imperial conquest immoral but because he believes that it confers certain responsibilities and obligations that the British embraced and that the Americans shirk.
Ferguson has written a swath of books on subjects such as the Rothschild family saga and World War I. He is a professor at not one but two universities (Oxford and New York University) and is an intellectual of considerable standing in Britain and the United States, writing widely for newspapers and magazines. He is a young Tory who has staked out an unusual turf as an advocate for a new wave of imperialism, and he has de facto inherited the mantle of Paul Johnson, who more than a decade ago declared sub-Saharan Africa a basket case and called for a re-introduction of Western rule.
