Legacies of Empire

Resumen del libro

The nation-state is a fairly recent historical phenomenon. Human history over the past two to four millennia has been dominated by empires, and the legacies of these empires continues to shape the contemporary world in ways that are not always recognised or fully understood. Much research and writing about European colonial empires has focused on relations between them and their colonies. This book examines the phenomenon of empire from a different perspective. It explores the imprint that imperial institutions, organisational principles, practices, and logics have left on the modern world. It shows that many features of the contemporary world - modern armies, multiculturalism, globalised finance, modern city-states, the United Nations - have been profoundly shaped by past empires. It also applies insights about the impact of past empires to contemporary politics and considers the long-term institutional legacies of the American 'empire'.

- Demonstrates how legacies of past empires continue to shape the contemporary world in ways that are not always recognised or fully understood - Applies insights about the impact of past empires on the contemporary system of states to assess the likely long-term impact of the American 'empire' - Encourages a historically more complex and nuanced framework for studying contemporary political processes and structures

Contents

1. Introduction: legacies of empire Sandra Halperin and Ronen Palan; Part I. Incomplete Transitions from Empires to Nation-States: 2. Political military legacies of empire in world politics Tarak Barkawi; 3. The second British Empire and the re-emergence of global finance Ronen Palan; 4. Imperial city-states, national states, and post-national spatialities Sandra Halperin; Part II. Legacies of Non-European Empires in Today's World: 5. The legacy of Eurasian nomadic empires: remnants of the Mongol imperial tradition Einar Wigen and Iver B. Neumann; 6. The modern roots of feudal empires: the donatory captaincies and the legacies of the Portuguese Empire in Brazil Benjamin De Carvalho; 7. Imperial legacies in the United Nations development program, and the UN development system Craig N. Murphy; Part III. The Future Legacies of the American Empire: 8. Foreign bases, sovereignty and nation-building after empire: the United States in comparative perspective Alexander Cooley; 9. Empire, capital and a legacy of endogenous multiculturalism Herman Schwartz; 10. The assemblage of American imperium: hybrid power, world war and world government(ality) in the twenty-first century Ronnie D. Lipschutz; 11. Conclusion Sandra Halperin and Ronen Palan.