What's Wrong with Imperialism?

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Few people today seem to doubt that imperialism is wrong. All one usually needs to do to condemn an act or policy is to label it as imperialist. There are good reasons for this, as we shall see. For the last two thousand years, many crimes have been associated with empires, and several of the empires of the last century have set new standards for human depravity and cruelty. Still, it is worth asking what exactly is wrong with imperialism. It is often good to raise critical questions about a consensus. And it may be that some features of empire are worthy of our respect.

THE WRONGS AND HORRORS OF EMPIRE

In our time, the horrors of imperialism are well illustrated by the Japanese conquest of Manchuria or by Leopold II's administration of his Belgian Congo. The extermination of many of the peoples of North and Central America a few centuries ago is another illustration. The history of empire is very much a story of death and destruction. It is also a tale of plunder and exploitation. Spain's early conquests were motivated by the prospect of acquiring precious metals, and older empires always exacted tribute (in goods or gold or slaves). All empires until the nineteenth century were slave-owning. The picture is not attractive.

To the association of empires with death, plunder, and exploitation, we can add domination. Empires are systems of the domination of one society or group over another.