The Burdens of Empire

Resumen del libro

Despite the long history of debate and the recent resurgence of interest in empires and imperialism, no one seems very clear as to what exactly an empire is. The Burdens of Empire strives to offer not only a definition but also a working description. This book examines how empires were conceived by those who ruled them and lived under them; it looks at the relations, real or imagined, between the imperial metropolis (when one existed) and its outlying provinces or colonies; and it asks how the laws that governed the various parts and various ethnic groups, of which all empires were made, were conceived and interpreted. Anthony Pagden argues that the evolution of the modern concept of the relationship between states, and in particular the modern conception of international law, cannot be understood apart from the long history of European empire building.

Biografía del autor

Anthony Pagden ha sido profesor en las Universidades de Oxford, Cambridge y Harvard, antes de obtener una cátedra en la Universidad Johns Hopkins, y actualmente es Distinguished Professor de Ciencias Políticas e Historia en la Universidad de California, Los Ángeles. Es autor de numerosas obras sobre los pueblos europeos y sus imperios, así como sobre la historia de las ideas, entre las que cabe destacar "La Ilustración y por qué sigue siendo importante para nosotros".